Top Twitch content, January 2023: Esports give League of Legends early bump

League of Legends viewership on Twitch was tops among all games to start 2023 as the beginning of major esports leagues like the LCS and LEC kicked things into high gear.

While Just Chatting maintains a stranglehold on the spot for the top category on the platform, a few games stood out in January, posting impressive viewership totals, as three games eclipsed the 100 million hours watched mark.

Here is the most-watched Twitch content from January 2023, according to Streams Charts.

Escape from Tarkov reset reaps dividends

Escape from Tarkov’s annual New Year Twitch drop event again caused an enormous spike in viewership for the game during the first week or so of the year. This time around, the game was able to land a spot as the second most-watched game on the platform and surpass the 100 million hours watched mark.

Those figures were good enough to give it a year-over-year increase. The game’s 113.4 million hours watched was up from 93.1 million in January last year.

Top content on the decline?

While EFT posted higher viewership than last year, that wasn’t the case for other forms of top content on the platform. Other top games, as well as Just Chatting, posted significant year-over-year decreases.

Just Chatting’s 262.46 million hours watched was down more than 20 million from 284.64 million last January. Meanwhile, Grand Theft Auto V role play and League posted even larger year-over-year dips to Twitch viewership. GTAV’s 110.27 million hours watched was more than 40 million below last year’s 152.25 million mark. LoL was down almost 60 million to 125.73 million this year. The game had 183.95 million hours watched in January last year.