Most popular YouTube streamers of 2022 revealed

Controversial figure tops the ranking

Marco Wutz | Jan 11, 2023

Most popular YouTube streamers of 2022 revealed /

Aside from Twitch and a few regional alternatives such as South Korea’s AfreecaTV, YouTube is the most popular streaming platform for content creators all over the world. The site has posted a list showing the most-watched gaming streamers in 2022 based on the hours viewers spent consuming their live content.

YouTube’s most popular gaming streamers in 2022

IShowSpeed – 38.5 million hours
Kuzuha Chan – 27.4 million hours
TimTheTatman – 26.6 million hours
DrDisRespect – 25.2 million hours
Pekora Chan – 23.3 million hours
Ludwig – 22.5 million hours
Windah Basudara – 21.9 million hours
Vegetta777 – 20.9 million hours
Miko Chan – 20.7 million hours
DJMariio – 20.4 million hours

Darren “IShowSpeed” Watkins has landed on top of the list. He was previously banned from YouTube’s rival platform Twitch for “sexual coercion and intimidation” after threatening to sexually assault another contestant on a dating show and calling her slurs. Riot Games has also banned him from Valorant and its other games for making misogynistic comments.

He has not corrected his ways since then, as the latest controversy surrounding him took place during the FIFA World Cup, where he live-streamed himself harassing a Chinese spectator.

The list also showcases the rise of VTubers. VTubers are creators who use animated models as alter egos so they don’t have to show their real face to the cameras. With Kuzuha Chan, Pekora Chan, and Miko Chan three VTubers made the list, all of them streaming only in Japanese.

Three other former Twitch streamers, who are now on top of YouTube, are Herschel “Dr Disrespect” Beahm, known for his raging rants, Timothy “TimTheTatman” Betar, and Ludwig “Ludwig” Ahgren.

Published Jan 11, 2023

MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg