GameSquare's Stream Hatchet Publishes 2023 Yearly Report

Esports viewership continues steady rise, growing 9% in 2023 , and has increased every year since 2019

Simulcasting shows promise with 100% viewership increase; multi-platform concurrent streaming doesn't seem to split audiences

FRISCO, TX / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2024 / Stream Hatchet, a streaming analytics and business intelligence platform and wholly-owned subsidiary of GameSquare Holdings (NASDAQ:GAME)(TSXV:GAME), ("GameSquare", or the "Company"), has published its Yearly Live-Streaming Trends Report for 2023.

Stream Hatchet's latest report offers an in-depth analysis culminating the biggest trends, stories, and insights from the live-streaming and video games industry. As one of the top sources in entertainment and a go-to resource for media, Stream Hatchet works with a consortium of industry-leading analysts and business leaders to provide expert insight on identifying key trends and projections for the future of gaming and esports.

"Continued annual growth in esports live-streaming since 2019 reflects expanding adoption of esports as a form of media and entertainment, while the overall live-streaming market continues to normalize after a spike in viewership in 2020 associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe 2024 will continue to show growth in esports live-streaming as a result of the growth in co-streaming channels, new worlds being developed in popular games, and massive new game launches expected to occur throughout the year," said Justin Kenna, CEO of GameSquare.

Key takeaways from the 2023 Yearly Trends Report include:

• Esports viewership continued to climb in 2023, up 9% from 2022 to 2.5 billion hours watched. This continues a yearly trend of increasing viewership and since 2019, esports viewership is up 92%.
  • Q1 and Q2 of 2023 were the greatest of their respective quarters ever for esports viewership, with Q2 the second-highest quarter of all time at 678 million hours watched.
• In 2023, live streaming's weekly average viewership dropped just 3.3% year-over-year - a notable recovery from the 13.8% drop in 2022. However, the weekly average surpasses that of 2020 by an additional 4 million hours.
• In March of 2023, Kick burst onto the scene as a new Western platform, with a huge catering to non-gaming categories. This catapulted Kick ahead of both AfreecaTV and Facebook into #3 for both Q3 and Q4. Consequently, Facebook bids farewell to its standing as the third most-recognized Western platform.
• Just Chatting continues to dominate the non-gaming side of live-streaming, and has also sparked popularity on Kick where it generated 260 million hours watched in 2023.
• For the several creators Stream Hatchet analyzed who began simulcasting in 2023, their average minute audience while simulcasting on multiple platforms increased 100% on average.
  • This indicates that multi-platform concurrent streaming doesn't seem to split audiences, but rather increases the overall audience reach for the streamer.
• Top Games live-streamed in 2023 include: Grand Theft Auto, League of Legends, Valorant, Minecraft, and Fortnite.
• Top steamers in 2023 include: ibai, PaulinhoLOKObr, KaiCenant, AdinRoss, and auronplay
• Top female streamers in 2023 include: rivers_gg, Emiru, JenFoxxx, Valkyrae, and Kyedae

For more information on Stream Hatchet and insight into the esports and streaming markets, please visit their website at www.streamhatchet.com.

About GameSquare Holdings, Inc.
GameSquare Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:GAME)(TSXV:GAME) is a vertically integrated, digital media, entertainment and technology company that connects global brands with gaming and youth culture audiences. GameSquare's end-to-end platform includes GCN, a digital media company focused on gaming and esports audiences, Cut+Sew (Zoned), a gaming and lifestyle marketing agency, USA, Code Red Esports Ltd., a UK based esports talent agency, Complexity Gaming, a leading esports organization, Fourth Frame Studios, a creative production studio, Mission Supply, a merchandise and consumer products business, Frankly Media, programmatic advertising, Stream Hatchet, live streaming analytics, and Sideqik a social influencer marketing platform. www.gamesquare.com

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SOURCE: GameSquare Holdings, Inc.