As technology has advanced over the years, video streaming has become far more accessible and much cheaper than before.
Technology is advancing rapidly from 2g-3g speed where regular videos face loading issues to 5G speed that can play Ultra HD videos without any drop in speed.
People are also evolving as well. About 80% of all internet content is expected to become video in the coming years.
People are more comfortable watching videos for enjoyment and for learning things.
Most people watch videos related to tutorials to learn day-to-day-related things.
Advanced smartphone technologies have made it easier to watch videos anywhere. Millennials prefer video streaming over long articles.
Live streaming statistics show that 63% of people who follow live stream videos are aged between 18 and 34. $24 billion is the market value of live streaming.
In earlier days, the media used newspapers, blog posts, newsletters, video ads, etc., to communicate with people. People aged above 45 were fans of long written articles.
But moving onto today, live video has announced it is coming, and soon written advertisements will be overtaken by video content.
The presence of various social media platforms is helping media and people to connect easily.
Key Statistics
- The current market value is $24 billion
- 63% of people viewing live streams are between 18 and 34
- 56% of live streams are breaking news
- 60% of American citizens watch TV through live streaming
- Live streaming saw a 99% growth between 2019 and 2020
- 78% of Facebook users watch live streams[source]
Detailed Live Streaming Statistics for 2025
1. $2.2 million paid by Facebook to influencers for Live stream promotion
Live streaming statistics indicate that Facebook is attempting to jump on the live streaming bandwagon and encourage influencers to create more video content through its platform.
2. 3 million live views for Acun Ilicali in Instagram live streaming.
Instagram live streaming has taken off and as you can see from statistics like this, if you plan on making a name for yourself and being seen, you definitely will want to try this feature.
3. 56% of live streams are breaking news, followed by 43% live music concerts, festivals, and conferences.
What’s really interesting about live streams online is that the vast majority of them are related to breaking news, while the other 43% are dedicated to festivals, music concerts, and conferences. As you can see, there is a business side and a pleasure side to live streaming.
4. 38% of the world’s live video streaming comes from Africa and the Middle East.
Statistics like this might surprise you, considering the number of people in America who use Facebook and Instagram. However, there are also a lot of people based in the Middle East and Africa who produce live streams to go online.
5. 9.3 million monthly live video streams in Twitters Periscope platform.
Twitter has changed its landscape dramatically over the last few years, and while it might have started out with tweets, it has expanded to include the live streaming game. As you can see from streaming statistics like this Twitter’s Periscope platform is doing pretty well.
6. 15 fold growth expected for live video streaming by 2022.
By 2022, it is predicted that live video streaming will increase 15 times over the last few years. It is a relatively new feature still for Facebook and Instagram, but there’s no doubt that it will take off in popularity.
7. 60% of US citizens watch TV via live streaming.
Live streaming statistics like this show just how prevalent live streaming is, and how likely it is to take over the traditional concept of TV. The majority of American citizens watch TV through live streaming.
8. 4 times growth for Facebook live streaming in a year.
Again, statistics indicate that Facebook is attempting to jump on the live streaming bandwagon and encourage its users to capitalize on this feature as much as possible.
9. 650 million OTT subscribers in 2020.
OTT is doing very well, and considering it garnered 650 million subscribers in 2020, we have no doubt that this number has increased exponentially since then.
10. 34.5 minutes for live streaming is the average time spent for video on desktop versus 2.6 minutes for VOD.
Statistics like this might not feel like people are spending a lot of time watching live streams on their desktop, but considering this is an average, this is actually quite a big number.
11. 1.6 billion people watched Men’s cricket world cup 2019 on live stream, and 41% of them were women.
One of the industries where live streaming is becoming really popular is sports according to live streaming statistics.
This is why almost 2 billion people in the world watched the cricket World Cup in 2019 on live stream. What’s even more surprising about live stream statistics like this is that 41% of the people that watched the men’s cricket World Cup were women.
12. 5.2 billion live stream views for Euro cup 2020.
The Euro Cup back in 2020 was also incredibly popular when it came to live stream views, with 5.2 billion people tuning in to watch it live.
13. 99% growth in live streaming from April 2019 to 2020.
Between April 2019, and April 2020, there was a 99% growth in live streaming. Again, this shows that while it is still a relatively new feature when it comes to most social media platforms out there, it is certainly gaining ground.
14. 79% of smartphone users will be for watching videos by 2022.
Not only is the Internet taking over when it comes to desktop, but it has also taken over when it comes to mobile according to industry size.
A lot of people choose to use the Internet on their mobile these days, because it is more convenient, and it means that they can take it on the go with them.
15. Sixteen minutes is the average time people spend on a mobile phone to watch live videos.
Statistics show that people spend a decent amount of time on their mobile phones watching live videos.
While 16 minutes isn’t as much as how many minutes people spend watching live streams on their desktop, it is still a significant amount.
16. 2.6% of live videos fail to stream during the start.
This might not seem like a big number, but if you consider just how many live streams there are in the world, it becomes very significant.
17. 78% of Facebook users watch live stream videos.
Again, statistics around Facebook live streams like this indicate how much Facebook is pushing for its users to adopt live streaming techniques and features.
18. 86% of colleges/universities use YouTube channels for live streaming
The vast majority of universities and colleges around the world use YouTube channels for live streaming, which is a great way for them to connect with students who aren’t able to make it to class and indicates industry size.
19. In 2020, 20% of people depend upon live streams of ceremonies due to the Covid-19 pandemic
Speaking of not being able to make it to class, the COVID pandemic meant that a lot of high school and college students weren’t able to graduate in person. This is why 20% of people depended on live streams to attend ceremonies according to live streaming statistics.
20. 300% increase in Uscreen live stream in 2020
2020 saw a 300% increase in Uscreen live streaming. Again, this indicates that it isn’t just Facebook and Instagram that is jumping on their livestreaming train.
21. The Covid-19 situation created a 44% rise in video streaming usage in Brazil
The pandemic resulted in an increase of 44% in video streaming usage in Brazil according to streaming statistics. This is a pretty significant increase.
22. 66% growth registered for users in Netflix and Hulu
Both Netflix and Hulu have been increasing exponentially over the last few years, but it has only been recently that they have jumped off the edge, and really increased their user growth to a point that is significant based on the statistics.
23. $1617.7 million revenue expected for Esports with 11.1% CAGR growth in the period 2019-2024.
Again, revisiting the idea that live streaming is extremely popular in the world of sports, as you can see there’s a huge potential for revenue when it comes to live streaming sports.
24. Nine hundred ninety million “League of Legends” hours are watched from the Twitch platform.
Twitch is an incredibly popular gaming platform where gamers share their experience of games through live streams.
One of the most popular games is League of Legends, and as you can see from live stream statistics like this, there are a lot of people tuning into the League of Legends community.
25. One hundred times faster 5G networks are expected in the future than the 4G LTE.
Mobile networks have continuously worked to improve their networking abilities and as you can see from live stream statistics like this it is predicted that 5G networks will be 100 times faster than 4G.
26. $184.3 Billion Market Value Is Expected for Live Video Streaming by 2027
Live streaming market statistics tell us that the live video streaming industry raised revenue of $38.56 billion in 2018. It is expected to cover $149.34 billion on or before 2026. The CAGR growth is expected to be 18.3% during the 2018-2026 period.
27. 32% Video Marketing Is Based on Facebook Live Video Streaming
Being the social media giant with 2.8 billion users, Facebook is expected to implement advanced technologies to become the live video streaming leader. 82% of Facebook users prefer watching live videos to reading posts. Facebook spent $50 million to pay celebrities to use Facebook live for promotions.
28. $100 Billion Investment from Brands Are Expected by 2023
It is simple logic that advertisement comes where people gather. With more people on board who favor live videos, brands create various marketing strategies with significant investments to increase their revenue. In 2018 the brands made $90 billion investments in the live video segment.
29. 741 Million Hours in Twitch
Around 14 million live videos are streaming on Twitch, and more than 108 thousand channels are live-streamed this year. In 2020, Twitch made a $2.3 billion revenue. Almost 9 million users live stream on Twitch each month. Twitch users spend almost 95 minutes daily on the platform.
30. 54% of Live Stream Content Are About E Sports
The major platforms used for video games live-streaming are YouTube and Twitch. Esports generated a revenue of $957.5 million in 2019 and $1100.1 million in 2020.
31. 80% People Prefer Video Contents
The old generation prefers books and reading. But that was due to the unavailability of video platforms.
As technology advances, people are more interested in watching live streams from their favorite celebrities and social media influencers.
32. 164 Million Facebook Views in 2016
Candace Payne, a normal Texan mother, posted a video on Facebook wearing a star wars Chewbacca Mask with the most Facebook views ever in live streaming. The mask became famous and sold out all the pieces from online retailers(Forbes report).
33. 45% Increase in YouTube Live Stream Subscribers
56% of people think about live streaming is, they feel that they are also part of the events happening in the live stream. The covid-19 pandemic locked people from outside.
Hence people started depending upon live streams to participate in their friend’s marriage, office pranks, inaugurations, etc. 56% of people prefer live streaming of such events more often.
34. 617 Million Live Stream Users in China
According to statistics, the most prominent live-streaming channels in china are Huya, Huoshan, and YY Live. 62.4% of internet users in china watch live streaming videos.
35. 10-20 Times More Engaging.
The pre-recorded videos are carefully planned and edited. But the beauty of live videos is their uncertainty. People who watch live streams know that things are happening at the very moment on the other side as well.
And live videos often produce unexpected moments that are surprising for both video producers and viewers. Hence according to studies, live videos are more engaging than pre-recorded ones.
36. 63% of Millennials Watched Live Streaming.
Millennials are the most significant viewers and creators of live videos according to live streaming stats. 63% of them often watch live streaming videos, and 42% of them create live videos.
37. 56% of Live Streams Come from Breaking News
News channels are trying to raise their views every minute using the “Breaking News” sensation. 71% of Americans watch cable TV networks, while 65% watch live news using online platforms.
38. 53% of Live Video Content Creators Do It for Timepass
Most of the youngsters under 24 age are creating live videos just for fun and fame according to live streaming demographics data.
But 24% of people aged between 25-45 and 29% of people above 45 create live video streaming to boost their business or brands. For them, live video streaming is a great option to gather a target audience.
39. $50 Million Sales from Live Streaming
A Chinese video creator named Viya used Taobao, an online streaming platform, to sell products of the company Qianxun (Hangzhou) Culture Media Co., Ltd.
Later, she was fined $82,921 for violating the advertisement law by promoting illegal cosmetics and food items.
40. 50% of Live Videos Lose Viewers Due to Poor Network Quality
The biggest challenge faced by live video streaming is network strength.
People leave the live video streaming in 90 seconds or less if the content is streaming in low quality. The network speed should be at least 3mbps for live streaming in 480p quality.
41. 4.4 Billion Revenue for Hulu in 2020
Hulu is the largest live video streaming app in the US, with 39 million total subscribers.
There are 4.1 million users for Hulu Live Tv, and Hulu creates the most demanded live streams to engage its audience.
42. 67% Success Rate for Live Streaming Market Events
People who watch live events like music, dance, etc., tend to experience the event directly.
About 67% of the people who watch live events book tickets for the next time. Hence live video streams are a great marketing strategy for businesses to interact with people.
43. 232 Million Live Stream Users in The Us
In 2020, about 232 million people in the US either live-streamed or downloaded their favorite video.
42% of the internet users in the US watched live online videos in 2019, while it was 27% in 2017.
44. 86% of Live Streaming in The Us Is Related to Sports
People watched Super Bowl LIII live streaming by 560 million. Around 86 out of the top 100 most viewed live programs in the US are sports-related.
45. 82% of Online Traffic Will Be Controlled by Video Streaming
By the end of 2021, live streaming is expected to dominate the internet.
About 80% of internet users prefer video posts over other posts. Businesses are upgrading their marketing techniques to influence people through live videos.
46. Millennials Are the Leading Live Stream Followers
63% of the live video stream followers are millennials. They are also the majority of the live video content creators. Around 56% of them watch the live streams using a smartphone, while 44% prefer tablets.
47. 48% of Live-Stream Followers Don’t Like Ads Coming in Between the Video
According to statistics, 52% of the people who regularly watch live streams prefer to use their free accounts. The ads that interrupt the video are not an issue for them.
48. 210% Yearly Growth for Facebook Live Gaming
Live video game streaming is getting more prevalent across all significant live stream platforms. Twitch, YouTube, etc., already have a large group of game-loving crowds. Studies say 800million or more people are using Facebook for playing games. (source)
49. 1 in Every 5 Videos from Facebook Are Live Stream
63% of people think that live videos are a great way of interacting with people compared to other digital marketing strategies.
Almost 60% of influencers believe that live video streaming can help them connect with people better than pre-recorded videos.
50. 56% of People Are Ready to Pay for Online Streaming
When asked to choose from traditional TV or online live streaming, most people choose online streaming. The young generation doesn’t like the long advertisements between the sessions of videos watched on Traditional tv.
They prefer online streaming since they can watch their favorite live show from anywhere they like.
51. 70% Family Are Willing to Pay for Online Streaming
An interesting statistic shows that 80% of women are ready to pay for premium online video streaming apps. When they are family, they prefer to subscribe to high-quality streaming.
52. 2018 Worldcup Quarterfinal Got 23.3 Million Hours of View
The first ten days of Russia’s 2018 football world cup recorded double the online traffic compared to the complete 64 games of 2014 world cup hours. 67% of views were recorded through the app version, while 33% were through the web version.
53. 74% Reach Due to Covid-19 Pandemic
The unexpected Covid-19 breakdown pushed market experts to find better ways to connect with their customers. And the best solution they found was live streaming. Based on this successful experiment, about 28% of the Business started using Facebook regularly live to promote their products and services.
54. 2.8 Million Views on YouTube
The Italian singer Andrea Bocelli created the second most popular live stream video on YouTube on Easter.
55. 1300% Increase in Health and Fitness
The Covid-19 lockdown kept people inside their houses, and the Gyms and health clubs were shut down. The live video sessions were most helpful for fitness trainers and health enthusiasts.
It created a vast demand for physical trainers to meet their clients using virtual methods. Live streaming was the best possible way to meet people for supporting them in their training.
56. 70% of People Like the You Tube Live Platform
Google owns YouTube, and all the android phones come with YouTube as a default app. There is a tough competition between Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook live streams.
YouTube is the most favored platform from all age groups and has local support in more than 25 countries, making it more widespread. It is used in 90 countries with 80 different languages.
57. 59% Popularity Comes from Mouth Publicity
It is fascinating to know that the best advertisement for video streams is mouth publicity. People watch videos and share their comments with their friends.
Compared to paid advertisements and other means of marketing that require huge investments, about 59% of the fame comes from random talks of people.
So these statistics show that it is imperative to maintain the quality of the video content to get the maximum reach.
58. 2.13 Billion People Use OTT Platforms
In 2017 about 29% of people watched videos on OTT platforms which became 36% by 2018. OTT giants Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu are going to triple their investments. 650 million people will use OTT platforms to watch videos in 2020.
59. $24.9 Billion Revenue Generated by Netflix
Netflix has more than 208 million paid subscribers worldwide. 74 million US people are watching Netflix. The most prominent Netflix followers reside in NorthAmerica, which produces $11.45 billion annual revenue from the region.
60. 200 Million Prime Members in Amazon
148.6 million subscribers of Amazon prime come from the US. In 2017 this count was 99 million. 74% of the world’s Amazon subscribers are from the US. By 2022, the total user count is expecting to reach 153 million.
61. 87% of People Like to Watch “behind the Scenes.”
The taste of people is sometimes surprisingly unique. According to studies, if a live stream video covers behind the scenes as part of the program gets more audience.
87% of People are ready to choose online live streams over traditional tv programs if the videos are showing behind the scenes. About 45% of people are willing to pay for their favorite celebrity show.
62. 8 Times More Prevalent than On-Demand Shows
Even though longer than on-demand, the live stream videos have more than eight times fame among the crowd.
Hence more news channels are trying to add live reporting news to their sessions to gain popularity.
63. 348 Million Live Views for Laliga Football on Facebook
The Spanish football league has signed a contract with Facebook for the past three years.
People from countries like India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Bhutan, Nepal, etc., can only watch their favorite matches from Facebook live streaming.
It increased the live stream followers in social media. Anyway, Laliga has specified that it is going to end the 3-year contract with Facebook soon.
64. 14% Increase During Live Video Stream on Twitter
Between 2019 -20, there was an increase of 67% in the live video views on Twitter. People spent 19% more time on Twitter compared to their rivals. 1.2 billion video views are recorded on Twitter.
There is almost ten times the engagement rate for the Twitter posts that comes with a video. By adding a video to the post, sponsored posts can ensure a 50% cost reduction.
When compared to 196 domains of Twitch, the Livestream platform has 2,993 domains. According to the statistics, Twitch has a 2.34% market share.
What are the Major Live Stream Advantages?
1. Medium and Small Brands
In earlier days, a wide range of advertising and marketing was only possible through newspapers and tv advertisements.
It was challenging to impact people’s minds from the few advertisement seconds between the program intervals in Traditional Television.
For medium and small-scale brands, such advertisements were a headache in terms of cost and time.
The vast spread of internet and smartphone usage created several new marketing techniques for small and medium brands.
They got the unique opportunity to showcase their products in the market using creative ads. The live streaming helped the brands to reach more people.
2. Direct Connection with The Target Audience.
The brands can use various platforms without spending much money to advertise their products. When compared to TV media, social media reach is far better and easy to operate.
One of the best advantages of live videos is their reachability. 56% of people think that watching a live video makes them feel like they are also part of the video.
It is a technique used by advertising brands to make sure that people should feel that way. Brands choose local influencers and celebrities to connect with their followers.
People who trust their favorite celebrity will listen to the products and services recommended by the influencer.
3. Cheapest Way to Influence the People.
The statistics show that most people who watch live concerts or art programs are willing to buy a ticket next time.
Live streaming creates the cheapest mode of selling products and services to people. Live streaming is used to train employees to save the cost of a conference room, food, travel, and other requirements.
Moreover, each employee gets the same information from the same person throughout the session. It ensures profit as well as quality.
4. Increased Interaction
When a large group of people gathers for a public talk session, most of the crowd will be silent without asking their questions even though they have many.
Virtual live meetings provide them a comfort zone to interact with the person more quickly. Such interactions help the growth of an enterprise.
Live sessions that introduce various business products can have the comment sections open and active.
People can comment and ask their doubts and raise their concerns even without showing their faces.
5. Profit Is the Ideal Result
People can conduct live streams from inside a bedroom without the help of a studio. Leading celebrities are not a necessity for live streams.
There are a lot of physical factors that can be avoided from the live sessions making it practically the most profitable method for marketing.
How Live Stream Affects Business
Businesses are utilizing the power of live video sessions nowadays.
The business world is expecting a $100 billion investment in live video streaming by 2023. 29% business creates live videos for their employees daily.
About 77% of employees working in the business industry faced live video streaming issues. People watch live videos at their work more often. 53% of brands do a live video stream at least once a week.
36% of businesses face internet bandwidth issues while creating live video sessions. However, it is evident that live video streaming is increasing productivity.
80% of employees are willing to watch the live sessions rather than following a paper manual to learn new things.
The ultimate advantage of using Live stream videos is to influence the younger generation quite easily. Big brands, as well as small brands, can generate maximum revenue.
2020 showed a rise of many online live platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitch, etc. The Covid-19 pandemic made people sit inside their houses.
Most of them lost their regular business earnings that involved day-to-day physical interactions.
People, mainly youth who tried to create new channels to earn revenue, became content creators on several online platforms.
The results were mind-blowing. TikTok was the number one social media platform that boomed in 2020 among the youth.
This one-minute short video platform created several content creators. Statistics show that 83%of TikTok users have at least created one video.
That is something no other social media platform can match. After getting maximum exposure, such influencers created accounts on other social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
It helped small brands to market their products to a specific community. For example, a facemask brand can market its teen category unique edition masks through influencers aged 13 and 20.
Also, they can advertise their cosmetic section with influencers who create content based on cosmetics.
The TV media reach is limited compared to live streaming platforms. Primarily people aged 14-34 depend more on smartphone-based platforms rather than traditional newspapers and TV.
The establishment of multiple platforms also helped to get space for a variety of products and brands. Earlier the trend was using one or two different brands of a product.
But people were unaware of the existence of the rest of the brands and products in the market.
Such brands could not spend a lot of money on advertisements to cover a wide range of audiences.
Social media live platforms helped these brands make their presence in the market with established brands.
Studies show the importance of creating an emotional connection with the audience. Live sessions conducted by influencers are already creating an emotional connection with their audience.
They can introduce and describe the benefits of a brand’s product in their content presentation.
The main disadvantage of traditional marketing was, the brands were unable to understand the pulse of their audience at the moment of the advertisement.
The comment section available on social media platforms is the best way to understand what people are thinking.
Creative influencers can adapt to the situation based on the mood of the audience and improvise moving forward. Brands can watch the comments and can understand what the people want from them.
Getting customer feedback directly from the users is considered to be the best way of collecting genuine feedbacks. Such feedbacks can also help other customers who are in search of similar products.
Final Thoughts
As you can see from the live streaming statistics that we have shared with you above, this is a pretty powerful industry that is continuing to gain ground.
There are many different reasons why people use the Internet in general these days but what’s significant about these live stream statistics is that they shine a light on an industry that is going to be worth a lot of money in the near future.
As far as what direction the industry plans on taking all we have to say is watch this space.
