Twitch viewership falls to 5-Year low after bot ban

Twitch, one of the world’s biggest streaming platforms, is seeing a drop in viewership after it started targeting fake viewers known as “viewbots.” The platform, which launched in 2011, has millions of users and rivals like YouTube Gaming and Kick, but recent reports suggest its numbers are going down.

In July, Twitch announced new steps to catch and remove fake engagement, such as bots that boost a streamer’s viewer count. Since then, the site has recorded its lowest viewership in five years. Data from Streams Charts shows that Twitch’s peak viewers fell by 73% in August compared to July.

A big reason is the record-breaking boxing event by Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos in July, which attracted over 9 million viewers. Still, hours watched in August dropped by 9%, and average viewers fell by 8%.

Another tracking site, TwitchTracker, also reported that average viewership has been dropping since June. In August 2025, the site recorded around 2 million average viewers, the lowest since March 2020.

Despite this, Twitch’s chief product officer, Mike Minton, denied claims that viewership is in “free fall.” He said reports from third-party sites are misleading and don’t reflect the real picture. However, since Twitch doesn’t release its own official numbers, many rely on these outside sources.

In July, Twitch had already warned that streamers using viewbots would see their numbers drop. Around 40,000 Twitch channels were reportedly affected.

The issue is not just limited to Twitch. Kick, another streaming platform, also faces the same problem, with reports saying that one in six Kick streamers used viewbots, adding over 20 million fake hours in just three months of 2025.

For now, it’s unclear if Twitch’s numbers will bounce back or continue to fall, but the crackdown has revealed how big of a role fake viewers played in online streaming.

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