The Biggest Gaming Influencers on Twitch and YouTube

Simply put, the best way to reach new audiences is to partner with influencers.

Gaming influencers tend to have the largest audiences and according to the YouGov website, 9% of consumers across all 17 markets follow at least one gaming influencer.

But what can these influencers do for your business?

To summarise, consumers across all industries follow the biggest gaming influencers around the world, so tapping into their engaged audiences can generate exposure and sales for your business.

Ready player 1? Let’s dive into the world of gaming influencers and help you level up your next big campaign idea.

Reasons to hire gaming influencers

Expand your reach

Whether they be a micro or macro gaming influencer, you’ll still have the chance to engage with a new audience. 9 times out of 10, the audiences of gaming influencers are incredibly engaged too, so these influencers can help you.

Before partnering up with one of them, make sure you know exactly who you want to market to first. If you’re not sure where to begin, consider hiring the help of a Twitch Marketing Agency or YouTube marketing agency to help you find the best gaming influencers for your brand.

Diversify your audience

Naturally, the biggest gaming influencers come with the most diversified audiences. If you’re on the hunt for a distinctive demographic for your brand that you haven’t yet considered, gaming influencers are the best way to go about this.

Build social proof and industry authority

Gaming influencers have dedicated audiences who count on their recommendations. The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report suggests that 81% of consumers need to trust a brand before purchasing something. This is where gaming influencers come in handy. 

After their audience has used/tried your product, you can use loyalty strategies to keep them coming back. In addition, you can boost your social proof and credibility by including testimonials on your homepage. 

Develop long-term relationships

Influencer collaborations should always run with the intention of creating a long-term partnership. This means more organic endorsements in the future, as you will be working with someone who truly believes in your brand. 

An Onalytica report states that 40% of influencers are in a long-term partnership; suggesting that they, too, see the value and convenience of establishing relationships with brands is. 

Have your brand become a trend

A lot of trends derive from influencers. This isn’t us saying that it’s a must, but the biggest gaming influencers have audiences who are more prone to copying their actions, increasing your chances of creating something viral. 

Twitch’s biggest gaming influencers for your brand

1. summit1g

Jaryd Lazar streams CS:GO as well as Fortnite. Twitch is his full-time job and he typically streams for 35 hours a week, excluding Thursdays. He became the most followed gamer on Twitch on January 25, 2018.

2. Ninja

Tyler Blevins, more commonly known as Ninja on Twitch, plays for Luminosity Gaming. He predominantly streams as a professional Halo player 5 days a week, though sometimes plays and broadcasts H1Z1 in his spare time. His team ‘Renegades’ reached 5th-8th place in the 2016 Halo World Championship for Halo 5. 

3. Syndicate

Tom Cassell isn’t only well known on Twitch, but his YouTube channel TheSyndicateProject is also world famous as one of the top 100 subscribed to channels out there. He holds the record for being the first person to reach 1 million followers on Twitch in August 2014. His most streamed games are Minecraft, Call Of Duty: Black Ops III, CS:GO and Tom Clancy’s The Division.

4. Shroud

Michael Grzesiek is a top-tier professional Counter Strike player for Cloud9. He is considered one of the most well known players on the scene and entertaining to watch in action. 

He predominantly plays PUBG, H1Z1, Tom Clancy’s The Division and CS:GO, to name a few. He typically live streams when he plays, amounting to 50 per week. These streams average approximately 25,000 viewers, although he receives up to 7 million for special tournaments. 

YouTube’s biggest gaming influencers for your brand

1. Markiplier

Hawaiian-born Mark Fischbach is the owner of Markiplier. He favours the ‘Let’s Play’ gaming video style, where he uses his videos to document his playthrough of a game. Having been on the platform for 11 years, he isn’t shy when it comes to his exuberant and uncensored commentary style. 

His preference is indie and horror games, such as Five Nights at Freddie’s and is also well known for presenting live charity streams, collecting donations as he plays. 

2. Vanoss Gaming

25-year-old Canadian, Evan Fong is the mastermind behind Vanoss Gaming. The bulk of his videos showcase him playing with other YouTube gamers titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Call Of Duty: World of War. 

Vanoss Gaming has been uploading since 2011 and has entered the top 20 gaming YouTube channels.

3. Jacksepticeye

Sean William McLoughlin, better known as Jacsepticeye, is another OG gamer on YouTube whose Irish accent is instantly distinguishable. Like Markiplier, he favours the ‘Let’s Play’ gaming style and his commentaries are what draw people to his channel.

Jacksepticeye has worked with Polaris and Disney in the past.

4. DanTDM

Daniel Middelton is a British YouTube gamer. His channel began in 2012 for an audience of children aged between 5-10, but, just as he and his audience have done, he now plays a range of games to fit his audience’s maturity level. 

He also hold three Guinness World Records:

1. Most goals scored in a game of Rocket League for a team of 2
2. Most goals scored in a game of Rocket League for a team of 3
3. Most views for a dedicated Minecraft channel

FAQ’s

Who is the biggest gaming influencer?

While some would argue Pewdiepie, he no longer predominantly creates gaming videos, so the biggest gaming influencer in the world is JuegaGerman with over 47M subscribers.

Who is the most popular gamer on Instagram?

David Steinberg (aka @stonemountain64) has over 2.1M followers on Instagram.

Who are the top three most popular gaming YouTubers?

1. VanossGaming
2. Markiplier
3. Jacksepticeye