Tyler “Ninja” Blevins continues to set a new trend for the celebrity gamer and he has taken the crown as the most viewed Twitch channel in 2018, and it wasn’t even a close competition, according to a report from Forbes.
According to esportsobserver and TEO Analytics, they were able to calculate total viewing hours across the top ten Twitch channels for the year of 2018 and Ninja landed in 1st place by a wide margin, more than doubling RiotGames, who landed in second.
Here is the Top 4:
- Ninja – 226.85 million hours viewed
- Riotgames – 99.31M
- Shroud – 97.07M
- Overwatchleague – 74.60M
- Sodapopin – 51.95M
- Dakotaz – 50.00M
- Lirik – 44.71M
- Tfue – 43.53M
- Eleaguetv – 42.81M
- Loltyler1 – 41.47M
Ninja has brought unprecedented national attention to Twitch, and the streaming community, from appearances on Ellen and Jimmy Fallon, to his hosting of Twitch’s New Year’s Eve event, which has been bashed by a number of prominent Twitch streamers on their Twitch streams, and his merchandise appearing on the shelves at Target stores.
Streamers have taken issue with ads for Ninja’s New Year’s event being shown on their stream as they see it as promoting a “rival”.
Still, there is no denying his success.
“There is something to be said about Ninja “oversaturation,” perhaps, as he is literally everywhere these days. He’s appeared on Ellen and Jimmy Fallon. He’s hosting Twitch’s New Year’s Eve event. Target is now selling his shirts. He’s omnipresent across all forms of media these days,” Forbes wrote.
Ninja also landed on the cover of ESPN magazine in September.
It will be interesting to see how Ninja continues his success in 2019, but also to see how the landscape on Twitch continues to evolve as streaming continues to make it’s mark on the digital industry in a major way.
