Mentioned in this article Games: Fortnite, Overwatch

The first year of Overwatch League play saw Blizzard Entertainment’s class-based first-person shooter become less of an influencer-driven game on Twitch and transform into more of an esport.

In 2018, the game had 248.2M hours watched, and 74.6M of those hours came from the main OWL Twitch channel alone. A closer look at the league’s regular season that spanned Jan. 10-June 17 shows just how much OWL dominated Overwatch viewership. The game’s 140.8M hours watched over the time period was composed of 66.5M hours watched from just the Overwatch League stream.

Thus far in 2019, OWL has grown its share of Overwatch viewership further to the point of near monopolization. Since Feb. 11, OWL’s main broadcast alone has accrued 25.4M hours watched of the title’s 44.9M hours watched.

Of the top 10 Overwatch channels on Twitch Since Feb. 11, five were OWL channels, including four alternative language broadcasts. One of the other top 10 channels was for Overwatch Contenders, the minor league OWL affiliate.

Including alternative language broadcasts, OWL coverage on Twitch has contributed 30M hours watched for the game since the league began play in February. In terms of overall market share, that makes more than 66% of Overwatch viewership on Twitch come from OWL broadcasts.

For comparison’s sake, Riot Games’ main channel on Twitch has produced 34.3M hours watched since the League of Legends Championship Series and LoL European Championship began play in January. That makes up around 13% of LoL’s 264.9M hours watched on Twitch since Jan. 14.

It’s worth noting that this does not include alternative language broadcasts or LoL Champions Korea, the Korean league for LoL. However, even the primary OWL broadcast on its own accounts for nearly 57% of Overwatch viewership since its season began.

Obviously, the relative youth of Overwatch makes it difficult to truly compare it with other titles like League of Legends that have a league-based esports scene, but OWL’s high percentage share of Overwatch viewership has a potential to affect the title.

Throughout the course of last year, a number of influencers stopped broadcasting Overwatch for a number of reasons. A couple of the larger reasons that streamers like Félix “xQc” Lengyel and Timothy “TimTheTatman” Betar reduced their OW airtime was OWL broadcasts that spanned many of their prime time slots for streaming and a toxic environment in game.

When OWL play started, matches were played Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights restricting the ability of influencers who didn’t want to compete with esports.

Additionally, frustrating elements of the team-based multiplayer game, like toxic teammates that couldn’t be avoided due to the nature of the matchmaking system, drove players to other games like Fortnite where they could control who they played with.

As a result, OWL has become the driving force that keeps Overwatch viewership afloat on Twitch, presenting an opportunity for Blizzard while also posing challenge for its game.

Because Blizzard is directly involved in interactions fans get with its game through OWL broadcasts, the company has the ability to better control the narrative of the game that is being relayed to spectators.

Instead of having to worry about what any given streamer that gets tons of views might negatively say about their game, Activision Blizzard is responsible for selling its game as a spectator esport with its airtime on Twitch.

There is a downside, however, with so much of Overwatch’s reach coming from OWL, any sort of slip up by the league could be harmful to the longevity of the game as a popular viewing option on Twitch.

As new games enter the marketplace for Twitch and esports, influence from esports and organic personality-driven content will continue to play a major role in a title’s development. While there’s no one set way for a developer or publisher to go about expanding their game’s reach, looking at what generates an audience for the title on Twitch can provide valuable insight.