Streaming video platform Twitch boasted average concurrent viewer numbers of 962k in January.

That ranks it ahead of major news organisation CNN, which averaged 783k, according to Macquarie analyst Benjamin Schachter on StreetInsider. Twitch also beat MSNBC (855k).

The numbers also represent a 22 per cent year-on-year increase for the platform, and 26 per cent month-on-month growth.

Whether Twitch can maintain these numbers is another question entirely, as January had plenty of big hitters to help bolster the numbers including the official debut of the competitive Overwatch League, as well as the return of controversial League of Legends streamer Tyler1.

Stat Attack

It was revealed last week that Twitch viewers watched a massive 355bn hours of content in 2017, which was created by over 2m individual broadcasters, who between them have created over 124m clips. The site also enjoyed 15m unique daily visitors.

Twitch now has over 27k partnered streamers and over 150k affiliated streamers. The year also saw 223 per cent growth in the number of creators earning money on the platform. In addition, over $30m was raised for charity by streamers in the period.

2017’s content milestones included over 1m concurrent viewers for Eleague’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Grand Final, over 436k peak concurrent viewers for Bungie 2 (that was the biggest game premiere of the year on the site) and over 245k concurrent viewers on the channel of League of Legends star Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-Hyeok.