Each month, PocketGamer.biz and Stream Hatchet break down the impact of mobile games and esports on streaming platforms; the ebb and flow of the most popular titles including Free Fire, PUBG Mobile, and Clash Royale, and pioneering newcomers; and how they’re reaching their audience.
Today, Upstream presents the data for March 2022, which sees an uptick in mobile gaming viewership and a new most streamed title, but a barracking for the entire Top 10, which made up over 90 per cent of overall viewership.
With a slight increase in mobile games streaming viewership/hours watched (3.12 per cent) but no new entries in the top 10 most watched mobile games, Bang Bang: Mobile Legends overtook Free Fire as the most viewed mobile game on streaming platforms, seeing a seven per cent increase, but the most dramatic turns continue to occur towards the lower half of the list.
January newcomer to the top 10, Mahjong Soul, climbed from tenth to seventh with a 311 per cent increase in viewership, overtaking stalwart titles including Supercell’s Brawl Stars and Riot’s League of Legends Wild Rift.
It is worth considering that the combined viewership of PUBG Mobile (51.8 million) and Battlegrounds Mobile India (14.4 million) would place it comfortably at number one, above Bang Bang Mobile Legend (55.9 million).
With PUBG Battlegrounds in mind, it is unsurprising that the battle royale genre dominated, with 58.6 per cent of total hours watched among all mobile games streams in March 2022.
The closest competitor, MOBAs, saw just 28.9 per cent, while casual, puzzle, strategy games – mainstays in the mobile games industry – languished in the single digits.
Much of Bang Bang Mobile Legends’ popularity this month came from southeast Asia streams. But, unlike the return to fame for Mahjong Soul back in January 2022, this was almost entirely predicated on official streams. MPL Indonesia and the official Bang Bang Mobile Legends channels on YouTube and Facebook Gaming saw audience of 17.9 million and 3.1 million, respectively.
The popularity of YouTube and Facebook Gaming, over otherwise industry leader Twitch, for mobile games streaming continues from January 2022, with little variance beyond a slight decrease in viewership for both Facebook Gaming and Twitch, with a seven per cent increase in YouTube audience.
However, Facebook Gaming’s authority as the premier mobile games streaming platform continues.
Three notable esports events were held during March: Liga Brasileria de Free Fire 2022: Series A Stage 1, PUBG Mobile Pro League 2022 Arabia Spring League, and Wild Rift’s WCK 2022 Spring. However, despite seeing considerable hours watched, competition viewership saw yet another decline (40.2 million) from January (51.5 million) suggests mobile esports have some way to go until it meets its console and PC peers.
