Nintendo’s livestream crossed 1 million Peak Viewers in September 2026, and it barely mattered. That number was the headline of YouTube Gaming’s rankings for the month, but the rest of the list is almost entirely about league broadcasts. Esports circuits dominated the watch-time tables, with VTubers and new-game launches fighting for scraps at the edges.
Streamscharts provides Streams Charts‘s ranking, a service that follows more than 63 million channels across major global and regional livestreaming platforms. The firm claims its numbers assist studios, organizations, and agencies with measuring viewership performance, audience behavior, and market trends. The complete list appears on streamscharts.com, and it resembles a marathon of league-season openers rather than a tribute to real content.
The Leagues That Took Over September
The most significant rise came from the MPL Indonesia reclaiming the lead position. Its Season 18, which covers the Regular Season of the regional circuit, has already accumulated over 37 million Hours Watched, per Esports Charts, with the main channel alone adding 5.98 million HW last month. The Regular Season continues through October 18.
The other league, MPL Philippines, likewise reached the top ten, pulling in more than 1.87 million watch hours from its Season 18 broadcasts. Both are still going strong, and both channels have already put up solid numbers even though the season runs into October.
KRAFTON INDIA ESPORTS finished second with more than 3 million watch hours, which came entirely from broadcasts of the Battlegrounds Mobile India Showdown 2026, the event that determines Indian representatives for the PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2026.
Three official League of Legends channels streamed the LCK Playoffs, and all three pushed their HW totals into the top ten. LCK Live, LCK Global and LCK-Carry each posted numbers ranging from 2.8 million to 1.7 million HW. The LCK 2026 Season closed with Gen.G Esports winning a third straight domestic title, while three more LCK teams joined them in securing spots at the 2026 World Championship.
The two Arena of Valor channels on the list both drew their numbers from major regional competitions. Liên Quân Mobile eSports-Garena reported 1.88 million HW by covering the Arena of Glory Winter 2026, Vietnam’s premier professional AoV league. Garena RoV Thailand posted 1.80 million watch hours through its broadcasts of the RoV Pro League 2026 Winter.
Nintendo, Minecraft and the Rest
Nintendo’s official channel racked up 1.72 million watch hours from two showcases: The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct and the September 2026 Direct. The Japanese channel reached 1.66 million Peak Viewers, while the English version hit 898.7K.
The official Minecraft channel placed on the podium too, thanks to its Minecraft LIVE September 2026 broadcast, which drew 336K PV and topped the spring showcase’s numbers. The official PlayStation channel hit a peak of 265.5K viewers during its State of Play September 2026 livestream.
The tenth spot went to Genshin Impact’s Version 7.1 Special Program, which drew 174.6K PV. The official Monster Strike channel came close behind with nearly 306K Peak Viewers at its MONST FREAK 2026 online anniversary event, marking the 13th anniversary of the mobile game. The ninth position belonged to Free Fire MAX Esports India Official, whose coverage of the Free Fire MAX India Cup 2026 Fall pulled just over 176K peak concurrent viewers.
VTubers and New Releases
Half of the top watch-time rankings were claimed by VTubers, led by Kanae Channel, which posted the highest watch time of 2.83 million HW. Her channel centered on games and events hosted by other Virtual YouTubers, such as RoseCamp ARK, a three-day team-based survival challenge event held by Hololive’s Aki Rosenthal.
After accumulating 8.77 million HW, TheBurntPeanut led the streamer table, having shown off:
- Project Zomboid
- Payday 3
- WARDOGS
His haul was further boosted by joint streams with Bryce “HutchMF” Hutchinson, Tony “LVNDMARK”, and Nick “NICKMERCS” Kolcheff.
Prominent esports community casters Gustavo “BaianoTV” Gomes and Ade “set1awanade” Pamungkas also found top-ten places. Baiano was the main destination for Brazilian fans to watch matches at the ongoing CBLOL 2026 Split 2, while Ade covered Regular Season matches of the MPL Indonesia Season 18.
Windah Basudara spent most of September 2026 trying out Grand Theft Auto V, Silent Hill Townfall and Marvel’s Wolverine, ending up among the most-watched and most popular streamers for the latter two, which were new releases at launch.
“CEROL”, who rarely appears in these rankings, came in at the eighth spot with 1.58 million HW. Joining him was rising Indonesian YouTuber Aldean “DEANKT” Gemilang, formerly Vice President of EVOS Esports, who hosted watch parties and co-streamed smaller events to reach 1.5 million watch hours.
What This List Actually Shows
The ranking reflects channel activity rather than viewer preference. Regular seasons and playoffs from esports leagues dominate YouTube Gaming, generating millions of hours of engagement. VTubers and fresh releases each contributed significant watch-time totals to the platform’s overall numbers.
The platform’s biggest attractions are not always the most inventive or thrilling streams. Instead, they tend to be the ones that viewers can count on seeing again and again.
| Event | Watch Time |
|---|---|
| MPL Indonesia Season 18 Regular Season | Over 37 million Hours Watched |
| MPL Philippines Season 18 | Over 1.87 million watch hours |
| KRAFTON INDIA ESPORTS Battlegrounds Mobile India Showdown 2026 | Just over 3 million watch hours |
| LCK Playoffs (LCK Live, LCK Global, LCK-Carry) | Between 2.8 million and 1.7 million HW |
The complete ranking can be found at streamscharts.com. If you’re curious about what truly made a difference last month, the answer is straightforward: esports broadcasts accounted for the vast majority of the watch time.
Source material: “Video game showcases under spotlight in September 2026's YouTube Gaming rankings,” Streams Charts.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.