Facebook Gaming has seen a decline in viewership and streamers over the past year, leading many to wonder if the platform is in trouble. While Facebook Gaming still has an audience, there are signs that it is struggling to compete with established players like Twitch and YouTube Gaming.
The Decline of Facebook Gaming
Facebook Gaming launched in 2018 as Facebook’s attempt to compete in the live streaming gaming market. The platform got off to a strong start, aided by Facebook’s massive user base and investments into exclusive streaming deals. However, after an initial surge, the growth of Facebook Gaming began to slow down.
In the first quarter of 2022, Facebook Gaming had 563,000 monthly active streamers, down from a peak of 1.2 million monthly active streamers in 2020. Viewership numbers have also declined, going from 356 million hours watched in Q1 2021 to 274 million hours watched in Q1 2022. This represents a 23% drop in viewership over the course of a year.
The decline can be attributed to a few key factors:
- Increased competition – Facebook Gaming emerged during a boom time for live streaming and now faces established competitors like Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and TimTheTatMan who have strong creators and audiences.
- Issues retaining top talent – Some high profile streamers like Disguised Toast and KingGothalion who originally signed exclusive deals with Facebook Gaming have since left the platform.
- Smaller audience base – While Facebook has billions of users, most are not on the platform specifically for gaming content. Meanwhile, Twitch caters heavily to the gaming community.
As growth has stalled over the past year, analysts have questioned if Facebook Gaming can survive as a leading streaming platform.
Is Facebook Gaming in Trouble?
The declining streamer count and viewership for Facebook Gaming are certainly concerning signs, but there are a few factors to consider before sounding the alarm:
- Facebook Gaming still has a sizable audience – While the platform has lost viewership, it still averaged over 200 million hours watched in Q1 2022. For comparison, this is about one-third of the viewership of Twitch.
- New platform monetization options – Facebook Gaming introduced tipping and paid subscriptions in 2021, which provide streamers ways to monetize their audience directly.
- Facebook integration and reach – With billions of Facebook users, Facebook Gaming has a built-in potential audience other platforms lack. Features like allowing streaming directly within Facebook groups provide exposure.
Additionally, Facebook has been willing to invest heavily in building its gaming presence, including buying major esports broadcaster ESL Gaming and developing its own cloud gaming service. The company seems committed to gaming as a strategic initiative.
However, the lack of sustained growth is a worrying indicator. To turn Facebook Gaming around, Facebook will likely need to find ways to better convert its general social media audience into engaged gaming viewers.
The Outlook for Facebook Gaming
While growth has stalled, it seems premature to declare Facebook Gaming dead. However, for the platform to succeed long term, analysts suggest a few key things Facebook could do:
- Improve discovery – Helping viewers find streams and creators they like is critical for engagement. This means better search, recommendations, and community features.
- Focus on mobile – Mobile gaming content is massive and most Facebook usage is on mobile. Features optimizing the mobile experience could drive more viewership.
- Provide more monetization – Adding more income streams like tipping is a start, but Facebook may need to improve rev share rates to attract more top creators.
- Leverage Facebook’s strengths – Closer integration with Facebook’s social features like groups and events could provide organic promotion to gaming content.
There are still unanswered questions about whether Facebook Gaming can thrive in a crowded market dominated already by Twitch and YouTube Gaming. But Facebook has the resources and audience reach to potentially turn things around if it makes the right strategic moves.
Gaming Revenue and Viewership
To provide more context around gaming viewership trends, here is a comparison of revenue and viewership stats for major gaming live streaming platforms:
| Platform | 2021 Revenue | 2021 Viewership |
|---|---|---|
| Twitch | $1.3 billion | Over 1 billion hours watched per month |
| YouTube Gaming | $8.6 billion | Over 250 million hours watched per day |
| Facebook Gaming | $336 million (est.) | 200-300 million hours watched per month |
As this data shows, Twitch and YouTube Gaming are still significantly ahead of Facebook Gaming in terms of both revenue and total viewership hours. However, Facebook Gaming has also managed to carve out a measurable audience in the billions of hours per year range. The platform’s ability to turn that viewership into sustainable growth remains uncertain.
Top Facebook Gaming Streamers
While Facebook Gaming has struggled to retain some top talent, there are still popular streamers generating millions of views on the platform. Here are a few of the top streamers on Facebook Gaming currently:
- Pestily – Pestily is an Australian Escape from Tarkov streamer who consistently pulls 20,000-30,000 live viewers. He’s Facebook Gaming’s top performer in terms of subscribers.
- Skillz – Skillz focuses on competitive Rainbow Six Siege streams and has over 4 million followers on the platform.
- TheFierceKitten – A long-time Facebook streamer known for zany antics and costumes. She has accumulated over 1 billion views.
- GalaxyGamerZz – A Fortnite-focused streamer with nearly 5 million followers who is part of the Galaxy Gaming pro esports organization.
- Maravillosamente Jazzy – One of Facebook Gaming’s biggest Spanish-language streamers known for her talk show style broadcasts.
Though not at the level of platforms like Twitch, these popular streamers show Facebook Gaming can still attract top talent capable of drawing sizable audiences. More content deals and partnerships could help expand this roster of top streaming creators on the platform.
Comparing Gaming Content
The types of games being streamed represents another area where the platforms are trying to differentiate themselves. Here is a breakdown of popular streamed games on Twitch vs Facebook Gaming:
| Most Streamed on Twitch | Most Streamed on Facebook Gaming |
|---|---|
| League of Legends | Free Fire |
| Fortnite | Garena Free Fire |
| Grand Theft Auto V | Mobile Legends: Bang Bang |
| Valorant | PUBG Mobile |
There are some key differences in the games gaining popularity on each platform. Twitch features more AAA games like League of Legends and recent hits like Valorant. Meanwhile, Facebook Gaming streaming is dominated by mobile battle royale titles like Free Fire that have exploded in Southeast Asia.
This may represent different target audiences – Twitch catering to PC gamers and Facebook Gaming finding an audience with mobile-first users, especially in emerging markets. Both platforms will need to continue cultivating content that resonates with their distinct communities.
The Viability of Other Competitors
In addition to competing with Twitch and YouTube Gaming, Facebook Gaming faces emerging challengers looking to tackle live streaming. Here is a rundown of threats from other companies:
Microsoft Mixer
Microsoft shut down their Mixer streaming service in 2020 after failing to gain much traction. Acquiring exclusive deals with stars like Ninja and Shroud failed to translate into sustained growth for Mixer.
Caffeine
Backed by Fox, Caffeine has tried to differentiate itself through features like audience interactivity and improved discoverability. But after three years, Caffeine has struggled to reach mainstream success.
TikTok Live
TikTok’s live streaming platform is still relatively new but represents perhaps the biggest threat given TikTok’s explosive growth. TikTok Live could leverage the platform’s massive Gen Z user base, though video length limits pose challenges.
Overall, alternative platforms have struggled to compete meaningfully with Twitch or YouTube. But the gaming live streaming market remains dynamic. An outside challenger like TikTok could gain traction if they find the right formula.
Conclusion
Facebook Gaming emerged as a promising competitor in the gaming live streaming space, leveraging Facebook’s reach to attract creators and viewers. However, after fast initial growth Facebook Gaming has struggled to maintain momentum as platforms like Twitch and YouTube Gaming remain dominant.
Declining viewership and streamer numbers indicate Facebook Gaming is facing challenges in retaining audience and talent. While it’s too soon to declare Facebook Gaming a failed venture, the platform will need to address issues around discoverability, monetization, and mobile optimization to turn around slowing growth.
Facebook still has avenues and resources to potentially revive Facebook Gaming as a top streaming destination. But the company will need to act quickly as streaming titans like Twitch and YouTube raise the bar, and hungry competitors like TikTok look to enter the market. The coming year will be telling in terms of whether Facebook Gaming becomes a major player for the long-term or remains a secondary option.