YouTube: 100 billion hours of gaming watched

More people are watching gaming videos on YouTube than ever before, according to new figures shared by the tech company.

In a blog post shared online, YouTube revealed that around 100 billion hours of gaming videos were watched this year alone! That's like the time it would take to travel to Neptune and back 475,000 times!

As well as that, the company shared that there are now more than 40 million active channels just about gaming!

From the most popular games to the top streamers, here are some other interesting finds from the post...

It'll come as no surprise to many of you to see which games were among some of the most watched on YouTube around the world.

In the top spot is Minecraft, with 201 billion views, followed by Roblox with 75 billion, and Fortnite with 67 billion.

However, it's not just about the games, it's about the people who play them, and YouTube has also shared a list of which gaming creators from around the world were the most popular this year.

The list included creators like Slogo, from the UK, and his buddy Jelly from the Netherlands, as well as ItsFunnneh from Canada.

One YouTuber called Dream, who makes Mincecraft speedrun videos, saw his channel subscriptions increase from one million in January 2020 to more than 13 million by October!

One of the reasons gaming videos have been so popular this year could be down to the coronavirus pandemic.

With many people stuck inside their homes due to lockdowns, more people have been playing games and watching them online.

As well as this YouTube said that it has seen a big increase in the amount of time people watched livestreams, with people watching 10 billion hours this year.

One reason for this could be because YouTube signed exclusive contracts with popular gaming creators and gaming companies, which means that they will only share their videos on YouTube.

As well as this, live events such as Minecraft Live and Travis Scott's concert in Fortnite, helped to draw in huge virtual crowds, as well as e-sports tournaments and charity streams.

However, Youtube's rival Twitch, which is a streaming site, passed 10 billion hours of live streaming earlier this year.