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Who is the most popular streamer?(Numbers inside!)

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Conti
Profile Joined November 2010
Germany2516 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-05-01 10:16:24
April 30 2012 18:50 GMT
#1
A ton of pro gamers are streaming their games these days. Heck, nowadays, it is harder to think of a pro that does not stream than to come up with one that does. And that's not only true for just our foreign heroes, either. A year ago it was a rare and special event to see a Korean pro stream his games, but today it is commonplace to watch our Code S favorites play their ladder games live on stream.
But who is the most popular of them all? Who is getting the most viewers? That's what I started to ask myself after I peeked at various player's viewer numbers, where I realized quickly that being a strong, successful player does not at all correlate with getting a lot of viewers. My curiosity piqued, and I started gathering some data.

I'm not a programmer, but with some Google-fu I managed to hack together a python script that would periodically (every 15 minutes) check teamliquid.net, gather data for every single streamer currently streaming and save it all in a simple sqlite database. Another script takes the data and creates a table with the most popular streamers, ordered by their average stream views. I let my sqlite database grow for a bit more than a month now, and today I want to present my results to y'all.

It should be noted first, though, that these numbers are not the ultimate answer to my question. There are many factors playing into these numbers. For instance, a popular player who streams less often is generally getting higher viewer numbers than an equally popular player streaming regularly. And a player who streams during events such as MLG or IPL will get much less viewers than normal, lowering his average. It should also be noted that, currently, the results include all streams of a given player, even if said player did not always play SC2 on his stream (Destiny regularly plays LoL, for instance, and a SlayerS tournament was stremed through Boxer's account at one point). My results do not take all of this into account. Still, I think the numbers give us a very good overview over the streamer's popularity.

I also have average viewer numbers for other streams on TL.net, which include events (dreamhack, NASL, Iron Squid), casters (khaldor, totalbiscuit) and of course non SC2 related streams (DOTA2, LoL, BW). But it turned out that creating a ranking of these streams is not as useful as it first seemed. Iron Squid, for instance, restreamed their event multiple times, significantly lowering their average viewers. Khaldor streams vastly different events, and getting an average out of these different events does not seem all that useful. And the big events (MLG, GSL, IPL) do not let us in on their viewer numbers at all, creating large holes in the gathered data. I can still provide a full table with all streams, though, if anyone's interested.

For this table, I inluded every stream that is operated by a single individual, playing Starcraft 2. It includes both featured and non-featured streams. I did not include streams that, in total, have streamed for less than one hour during the last month, as well as those operated by teams (the Korean pro teams do this), but they would not have made it into the list anyhow.

So, without further ado, here's the top 50 streamers, with data gathered from 22.03.12 until today:
[image loading]
A few notes about the lesser known streamers (which I define as "I did not know who they were beforehand" ):
  • "Hui ." is a Taiwanese player playing for the team (Wiki)Xpec Ironmen. And yes, he really does stream this much.
    Edit:
    On May 01 2012 18:55 PeterDLai wrote:
    I'm a moderator for Hui's stream and I can confirm that multiple Xpec IronMen players share his stream. The main ones that I've seen play on his stream include:

    Hui, team captain of XpecIM, Protoss player
    JoJo, a Zerg player on XpecIM active roster
    Ian, a Zerg trainee for XpecIM
    Manner, coach of XpecIM, Protoss player

    Occasionally he will also show/commentate clanwars or TeSL (Taiwan eSports League) live on the stream as well. Most of his viewers are from Taiwan, but Hui does interact with English speaking viewers as well. The other people who share his stream focus mainly on the Taiwanese audience though...
    Thanks for this, PeterDLai!
  • (Wiki)MaximusBlack is a Canadian player for CheckSix Gaming.
  • (Wiki)Honor. is a German player playing for Alien Invasion.
All other names should be pretty self explanatory.

I dare say that the number one spot is not terribly surprising. Idra has been streaming forever, longer than most people on the list, and he has quite the fanbase. Stephano did at times manage to take over the number one spot, though, showing that he is still immensely popular. My initial assumption was that being a Code S player does not automatically earn you a lot of viewers, and the numbers support this. There are a lot of Koreans out there that did not even make it into the list, and big names like NaDa or Jjiakji are only found in the lower ranks. Also, lack of success in tournaments does not have to equal low viewer numbers, either. TLO is found in the top 10, despite his beard growing longer every day, while Destiny, Incontrol and Nony are also doing quite well, outranking the just mentioned Koreans by far.

So what does it take to get the viewers? Dragon and CatZ are known for their entertaining streams, for instance, and they're doing reasonably well. Polt is a beast in the game, and he, too, is doing reasonably well. But, in the end it seems to be the combination of personality and skill that draws in the crowds. Everyone knows Idra's rage, White-Ra's Special Tactics or MC's antics, but they are also among the world's top players, and it's that combination that makes them one of the most popular streamers around.

So there you go. I hope this data provided some insight and entertainment to you guys! I am still gathering data, and I'm thinking about turning this into a regular feature, with new average viewer numbers presented maybe once a month. If you'd like that, please say so in your comments!
MountainGoat
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
United States507 Posts
April 30 2012 18:53 GMT
#2
Thanks for the stats! Based on what I've been seeing recently Stephano will start to pull ahead of IdrA I think. It helps to be good at the game but I think being famous is more important to have lots of viewers.
Stanlot
Profile Joined December 2010
United States5742 Posts
April 30 2012 18:54 GMT
#3
Man, I miss Cella's stream.
MC: "Sentry Forcefield Forcefield Marauder... cage Marauder die die"
denzelz
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
United States604 Posts
April 30 2012 18:55 GMT
#4
Interesting write up, but I'm not surprised by the data. The popularity of streamers probably also depend on frequency. For example, NaDa shouldn't only be getting an average of 751 viewers but he probably only streams during weird times with no schedule.

Personally, I don't understand why Idra is the most popular. His builds are pretty generic and boring, but I guess people like the drama.
awu25
Profile Joined April 2010
United States2003 Posts
April 30 2012 18:55 GMT
#5
I think most of it is whether or not you're a foreigner. Most people want to see how their foreigners are doing and the streamer will get more views. I've seen a lot of good korean players barely break 1000
Ichabod
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1659 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-04-30 18:58:45
April 30 2012 18:57 GMT
#6
Interesting metrics, impressive that there are some with 250+hours in just over a month.

Edit: holy shit 502
kevinmon
Profile Joined January 2011
United States540 Posts
April 30 2012 18:57 GMT
#7
Good write-up. Very interesting.
valaki
Profile Joined June 2009
Hungary2476 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-04-30 18:59:20
April 30 2012 18:58 GMT
#8
What? " with data gathered from 22.03.12 until today:"

That's 28 days, which are 672 hours. And Hui streamed 501. Wut?

EDIT: 38 days, and 912 hourse rather....still more than half of it..impressive.
ggaemo fan
KrazyTrumpet
Profile Joined April 2010
United States2520 Posts
April 30 2012 19:00 GMT
#9
Hui with 502 hours, he must be a robot o_O
www.twitch.tv/krazy Best Stream Quality NA @KClarkSC2
snively
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
United States1159 Posts
April 30 2012 19:00 GMT
#10
more love for dragon!!! #21 is not enough!!!
My religion is Starcraft
Conti
Profile Joined November 2010
Germany2516 Posts
April 30 2012 19:01 GMT
#11
On May 01 2012 03:58 valaki wrote:
What? " with data gathered from 22.03.12 until today:"

That's 28 days, which are 672 hours. And Hui streamed 501. Wut?

EDIT: 38 days, and 912 hourse rather....still more than half of it..impressive.

Yeah, that guy streams a ton. At first I wasn't sure myself if my data was correct or not. I'm still not sure if it's really the same guy streaming all the time or if it's all live, though.
lloydp
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
United States82 Posts
April 30 2012 19:04 GMT
#12
I think it's pretty wierd how foreigners are able to so easily beat koreans, even if they don't do any more interaction or talking on stream than them. Especially when skill is factored in. Though I suppose that's the importance of having viewers know the streamer's personality, and that personality being fun of course.

Personally I think you should definitely post this every month or so, since nobody else is doing this afaik.
master toss <3 carriers http://www.obs-gaming.com/forums/activity.php
Aunvilgod
Profile Joined December 2011
2653 Posts
April 30 2012 19:06 GMT
#13
On May 01 2012 04:00 KrazyTrumpet wrote:
Hui with 502 hours, he must be a robot o_O


How is this even possible?
ilovegroov | Blizzards mapmaker(s?) suck ass | #1 Protoss hater
OzRe
Profile Joined May 2011
Israel31 Posts
April 30 2012 19:08 GMT
#14
wow idra is more popular than stephano :O
Aveng3r
Profile Joined February 2012
United States2411 Posts
April 30 2012 19:10 GMT
#15
Nice that somebody finally did this. Not too surprised with the results near the top of the list, whenever I look either IdrA or Stephano will carry a good 8-9k if not more. Nice write up, would like to see more of these in the future!
I carve marble busts of assassinated world leaders - PM for a quote
Aocowns
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Norway6070 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-04-30 19:14:01
April 30 2012 19:13 GMT
#16
Idra's peak is higher than that I think. Late 2011 he peaked 20k or something while he was commentating

EDIT: nvm, you wrote from 22.03.12
I'm a salt-lord and hater of mech and ForGG, don't take me seriously, it's just my salt-humour speaking i swear. |KadaverBB best TL gaoler| |~IdrA's #1 fan~| SetGuitarsToKill and Duckk are my martyr heroes |
Backpack
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States1776 Posts
April 30 2012 19:13 GMT
#17
On May 01 2012 04:08 OzRe wrote:
wow idra is more popular than stephano :O


Its not as fun to watch stephano lose
"You people need to just generally care a lot less about everything." -Zatic
Seldentar
Profile Joined May 2011
United States888 Posts
April 30 2012 19:13 GMT
#18
At least one of your numbers is wrong because I remember over spring break when Stephano was streaming before the Lone Star Cup he had AT LEAST 18k viewers, but I think he even got over 20k at one point.

Good effort nonetheless and accurate enough I suppose.
SupLilSon
Profile Joined October 2011
Malaysia4123 Posts
April 30 2012 19:14 GMT
#19
On May 01 2012 04:13 Backpack wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 01 2012 04:08 OzRe wrote:
wow idra is more popular than stephano :O


Its not as fun to watch stephano lose


Stephano doesn't know how to lose.
IMoperator
Profile Joined October 2011
4476 Posts
April 30 2012 19:15 GMT
#20
You see Idra's numbers and think that's a lot but then you realize that LoL streamers get basically double that consistently. Pretty crazy.
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