As people around the world watched the U.S. Presidential Election results unfold, millions glued themselves to streaming and digital platforms.
Stream Charts, a database of live streaming statistics and analytics, reported overall streaming data of 84 million total hours watched, with the lion’s share of it —80.6%—on YouTube. Online video platform Rumble, often a popular pick with conservatives, came in second place with 13.1%. Fox News was the most popular broadcast streamed live on YouTube, setting a record 1.14 million peak viewers, according to Stream Charts data. NBC News trailed behind Fox, with 616, 900 peak viewers, according to the streaming report.
On the other hand, Nielsen reported that traditional broadcasts and cable watchers drew 42 million viewers spread across 18 television networks, with that number tuning in from about 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm. That was down more than 25% from the 2020 election cycle, which lured 56.9 million prime time viewers, according to Nielsen data. Fox News primetime coverage including Fox News Digital, outranked all television networks with 13.6 million viewers, the company announced on Wednesday. Fox's digital platforms saw record engagement, marking its best day since 2020 in page views, media, and minutes spent. The company reported that Fox News Digital secured 47.2 million livestream views between the evening and the small hours of the morning.
Nazar Babenko, product manager at Streams Charts, told Fortune the live-streaming platforms appeal to viewers because they allow for a back-and-forth. “It’s not just about watching anymore; people are actively debating and reacting in real time, reshaping election discourse in the process,” Babenko said.
Even before the election, political events were spurring greater engagement on live-streaming platforms, he said. The number of political mentions on Amazon-owned live streaming platform Twitch in its chats rose and fell along with the dynamics of Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns. After Kamala Harris participated in a town hall event on CNN, her mentions on Twitch surged 39.5%. The September debate between Harris and Donald Trump saw nearly 8 million peak concurrent viewers and 17 million hours watched globally, said Babenko. That catapulted streams of the debate ahead of other popular live-streaming events including the Apple Event 2024, North America’s professional League of Legends league summer event, and the Call of Duty League 2024 playoffs.
In October, some 5,600 channels on eight platforms mentioned Donald Trump in nearly 24,000 stream titles, according to Stream Charts. The streams spurred 49 million hours of content watched. Streams on Twitch, YouTube, and Rumble had the highest frequency of Trump mentions, their analysis found.
“This evolution in political campaigning reflects a dynamic shift where younger audiences—often reached through popular streamers or live debates—are shaping the future of democracy, right now, both within the United States and worldwide,” said Babenko.
NBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
