TikTok Live Gaming Hours Nearly Double to 2.5 Billion in First Half of 2026, Hatchet Report Says

TikTok Live gaming streams drew 2.5 billion hours watched in the first half of 2026, up 96% year over year, giving the platform a 14% share of gaming live-streaming viewership level with Kick, according to a Nov. 13 report from GameSquare's Hatchet.

Nov 14, 2026 - 12:14

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TikTok Live gaming streams drew 2.5 billion hours of watch time in the first half of 2026, up 96% from a year earlier, according to a report released Nov. 13 by Hatchet, the live-streaming analytics firm owned by GameSquare Holdings. The State of TikTok Live for Gaming H1 2026 report credits the ByteDance-owned platform with a 14% share of gaming live-streaming viewership, level with Kick, while Twitch and YouTube Gaming each lost share.

GameSquare announced the findings through ACCESS Newswire from Frisco, Texas. Tubefilter, which described TikTok Live as the fastest-growing platform in game streaming based on the report, noted that the data arrived as TwitchCon was getting underway in San Diego.

Equal Share With Kick, Still Behind Twitch in Volume

According to GameSquare's release, TikTok Live's 96% year-over-year growth "comfortably" outpaced the growth of Twitch, YouTube Gaming and Kick during the same period. The release lists first-half gaming hours watched of 9.1 billion for Twitch, 4.0 billion for YouTube Gaming and 2.6 billion for Kick, compared with 2.5 billion for TikTok Live.

Those totals mean TikTok Live grew fastest but did not lead in total viewing time. The French creator-economy outlet Influenth pointed out that, on the rounded volumes in the release, TikTok Live did not overtake Twitch, YouTube Gaming or Kick over the period. It added that the matching 14% share for TikTok Live and Kick reflects rounded figures, since Kick's rounded volume of 2.6 billion hours remains slightly above TikTok Live's 2.5 billion. Influenth said the "fastest-growing" label refers to the rate of growth, not to a ranking by total hours.

Tubefilter reported that Hatchet, formerly known as Stream Hatchet, publishes its TikTok Live findings as part of a twice-yearly update on the platform. The outlet said earlier Hatchet reports had described the dominant positions of Twitch and YouTube Gaming, while the firm's latest reports show TikTok Live gaining on those market leaders.

1.4 Million Creators Going Live Each Day

Hatchet's public summary page and the GameSquare release both say an average of 1.4 million creators streamed on TikTok Live each day in the first half of 2026. The release puts that at nearly double the 776,000 daily streamers it lists for Twitch. Tubefilter described TikTok Live's creator community as nearly twice the size of Twitch's on that measure.

The report also measured short-form video. According to the release, TikTok's short-form gaming content generated 5.0 trillion views in the period, close to five times the 1.1 trillion views it attributes to YouTube Shorts. Influenth noted that live hours watched, creator counts, short-form views and market share measure different things, and that the 2.5 billion live hours are separate from the short-video feed.

"Hatchet's latest report shows just how quickly TikTok Live has established itself in gaming live-streaming," GameSquare CEO Justin Kenna said in the release. "Nearly doubling its gaming hours watched in a year is a clear signal that audience habits are shifting toward mobile, discovery-driven viewing." Kenna also said TikTok is "building a distinct audience from other platforms, one that is younger, mobile-first, and highly engaged with titles like Roblox, Free Fire, and Mobile Legends."

Roblox Leads, With Mobile Titles Close Behind

Roblox was the most-watched game on TikTok Live in the first half of the year. Hatchet's summary page and GameSquare's release both give the figure as 613 million hours watched. Tubefilter's article reported 631 million hours. Influenth flagged the gap and said the two primary sources agree on 613 million. According to the release, Roblox's TikTok Live total was more than three times the 188 million hours watched for the game across all other streaming platforms combined.

The release lists two mobile games next: Garena Free Fire, with 439 million hours watched on TikTok Live, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, with 379 million. GameSquare said both ranked far higher on TikTok than on other platforms. Tubefilter wrote that Roblox is popular with Gen Alpha players, while Free Fire and Mobile Legends appeal to mobile players, especially outside the United States. Hatchet's summary page also says TikTok Live accounted for 7.6% of total esports hours watched in the period.

Part of a Broader Shift in Hatchet's Tracking

The TikTok Live report followed Hatchet's Q3 2026 Live Streaming Trends Report, which GameSquare released on Nov. 5. That report put total live-streaming viewership at 29.5 billion hours watched in the third quarter, and GameSquare said non-gaming content on YouTube and TikTok Live pushed viewership "to new heights." With that report, Hatchet began including all live-streaming data in its totals, including YouTube non-gaming content, which it had historically left out to spotlight gaming.

The Q3 report also said streamer-led events drew peak audiences comparable to major esports tournaments. It cited 7.9 million peak viewers for Ibai's La Velada del Año VI and 1.3 million for Kai Cenat's Streamer University.

What the Data Covers

The figures come from Hatchet, which says it tracks the creator ecosystem across more than 30 platforms using more than a decade of data. Influenth noted that the numbers come from Hatchet and GameSquare rather than from an official TikTok announcement or an independent audit. It also said that the full report requires filling out a form and that no monetization data, such as advertising prices or revenue sharing, was published. Influenth said the data is global and does not show how much audience or income individual creators receive.

Hatchet's public summary page says the full report also covers TikTok's gaming audience demographics, its share of gaming viewership and its top games. GameSquare, which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker GAME, counts FaZe Clan and TubeBuddy among its properties, according to Tubefilter.