The International 2026 put Dota 2 back on top of YouTube Gaming’s August rankings, with the official channel nearly doubling the watch time of its closest rival. The Esports World Cup 2026 also left a mark, pushing studio channels for several major titles into the platform’s top ten.
Dota 2’s August
Last month, the dota2 channel’s official YouTube Gaming page topped all organization channels with roughly 11.46 million Hours Watched (HW), nearly double the watch time of any other channel on the list.
The International 2026’s livestreams drove most of that number. The English-language channel set a new record of 327.6K Peak Viewers during the Grand Finals between Team Spirit and PVISION.
Mobile Legends and League of Legends
The official channel of the regional league accumulated 6.19M HW, while MPL Indonesia stood for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang on the leaderboard.
This month began with reporting on the Grand Final and Third Place Match of the MLBB Mid Season Cup 2026. The focus then moved to two home tournaments: MPL Indonesia Season 18 and MDL Indonesia Season 14.
This year, League of Legends once again had several entries. The LCK Tiếng Việt, LCK Global, and LCK-Carry channels all posted watch hours ranging from 2.5M to 3.7M. Each of their streams centered on the LoL Champions Korea (LCK), which remains the single most significant regional league on the game’s yearly schedule.
Counter-Strike, EWC, and Minecraft
BLAST Premier covered matches from Counter-Strike 2’s Bounty Summer 2026. The official Esports World Cup channel gave fans a place to catch the various events held in August.
Indonesia’s PUBG MOBILE channel came aboard, airing both EWC 2026 and regional coverage, while Japan’s Minecraft content group Dozle (ドズル社) rounded out the lineup.
Nijisanji’s Rare Appearance
Nijisanji (にじさんじ)’s official channel made an unusual entry into the monthly YouTube Gaming rankings, posting 3.19M HW.
Livestreams of Nijisanji Koshien 2026 played a major role in that climb. The event is one of the VTuber agency’s biggest annual shows, bringing together various top Virtual YouTubers for a rare crossover.
Peak Viewers
The list of the most-watched YouTube Gaming organization channels included several names, with MPL Indonesia and dota2 sitting atop it.
The official thegameawards channel placed third overall, having hit a peak of 319.6K viewers during its live broadcast of the Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026.
During the livestream of the Chaldea Broadcasting Station’s 11th Anniversary Special, the official Fate/Grand Order channel reached the top five for peak concurrent viewers. The event marked the gacha mobile game’s 11th anniversary.
The official Brawl Stars channel continued its habit of posting these rankings during special streams, and its broadcast of details about the game’s next update drew a peak audience of 191.2K viewers.
The Brazilian video gaming house news and review channel Flow Games reached 191K PV during the massive success of the GTA VI gameplay reveal trailer.
IShowSpeed’s Return
Darren “IShowSpeed” Watkins Jr. snapped TheBurntPeanut’s recent streak at the top of the individual streamer rankings.
The American star posted 16.6M hours watched during Speed’s Minecraft marathon with Kai Cenat, which was a significant reason for the surge. His monthly watch time jumped by 55%, a notable increase from July 2026. The marathon drew an audience that matched some of the biggest esports events by watch time.
Kai Cenat’s YouTube channel, Kai Cenat Live, also made its debut in the top ten with 4.28M HW. TheBurntPeanut was the only other entry to cross 10M watch hours in August 2026.
Streamer Rankings
The trio of Raj “Snax Gaming” Varma, Yash “LoLzZz Gaming” Thakker, and Alexandre “Gaules” Borba made the list thanks in part to coverage of EWC 2026 events for PUBG Mobile, Fortnite, and CS2.
LoLzZz Gaming kept reaching out to his audience through rank push livestreams in Battlegrounds Mobile India, alongside covering other events in their favorite games.
Three additional VTubers entered the top ten: Subaru Ch., Pekora Ch., and エクス・アルビオ -Ex Albio-, joining TheBurntPeanut among the highest-ranked streamers.
The Japanese carmaker Subaru ran a 7 Days to Die challenge tied to the zombie survival game, which drew strong audience interest. Meanwhile, Pekora took part in the Hololive Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 Tournament 2026, a competition that brought together other VTubers from her agency.
Albio kept his audience engaged by playing many different games. He also streamed himself playing VCR Rust, a private, invite-only gaming event hosted by Japanese gaming groups VaultRoom and Crazy Raccoon on a custom Rust server built for content creators.
Ludwig “Ludwig” Ahgren also made a comeback to these rankings, totalling 2.27M HW in August 2026.
That represented a jump of 65% in his MoM watch time. His livestreams of a 100-hour Counter-Strike 2 marathon alongside members of The Yard podcast and Joshman featured special rules and punishment segments. He also took his Streamer Games international in 2026, helping set new viewership records for the Olympics-inspired series.
Sanjan “Cr7 HORAA” Gautam and Zay “Zay Casting Channel” Yar So both made the list thanks to their coverage of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
The Data
Streams Charts monitors over 62 million channels across major global and regional livestreaming platforms. It offers studios, organizations, and agencies tools for tracking viewership performance, audience behavior, and market trends.
dota2 topped the list of top organization channels by watch time with 11.46M HW, while MPL Indonesia followed with 6.19M HW. Among individual streamers, IShowSpeed led with 16.6M HW, ahead of TheBurntPeanut at over 10M, Kai Cenat Live at 4.28M, and Ludwig at 2.27M.
The International 2026 delivered record peak viewership during its Grand Finals, and IShowSpeed’s return to the top of the individual streamer rankings came on the back of a well-matched collaboration with Kai Cenat.
“The most-watched YouTube Gaming organization channel last month was the official dota2 channel with nearly 11.46 million Hours Watched (HW), almost twice the watch time of any other entry.”
- dota2 — 11.46M HW
- MPL Indonesia — 6.19M HW
- LCK Tiếng Việt, LCK Global, LCK-Carry — 2.5M to 3.7M HW
- Nijisanji — 3.19M HW
- IShowSpeed — 16.6M HW
- Kai Cenat Live — 4.28M HW
- TheBurntPeanut — over 10M HW
- Ludwig — 2.27M HW
Source: streamscharts.com