Democrats swept the midterms as millions watched livestreams with favorite influencers
XLC•Election-related livestreams drew 10.27 million hours of viewing across more than 2,500 channels in the 30 days before the November 3 vote, 4.5 times the total ahead of the 2022 midterms. Hasan Piker’s stream accounted for nearly 45% of total watch time.
1. Livestreams draw viewers
NBC News’ nearly 11-hour “Kornacki Cam” livestream drew 29 million views across platforms and peaked at more than 300,000 concurrent viewers for nearly three hours. Piker’s election-night Twitch stream peaked at 241,783 concurrent viewers and drew 1.75 million hours of viewing, making it the second-most-watched individual broadcast.
2. Creators’ political reach
Piker campaigned with Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar and backed progressive challengers Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, who won congressional seats. He told Reuters he focused on election analysis rather than attending post-election gatherings, saying, “I’m not a campaign surrogate. I’m a political commentator.” His broadcast brought around 40,000 new Twitch subscribers, taking his total to more than 95,000.
3. Audience and influence
Livestream viewership was nearly 4.5 times higher than ahead of the 2022 midterms. A 2025 Pew Research Center survey found 38% of Americans aged 18 to 29 regularly get news from social media influencers, compared with 8% of those 65 and older. Experts differed on how much influence political livestreamers have compared with podcasters such as Joe Rogan.
