Live Streaming Predictions for 2025

Zach Bussey -

Happy New Year! I hope you've all had an enjoyable Holiday Season and are ready to hit the ground running! I've been hard at work planning, developing, and gearing up for what I expect to be a hectic and critical year for streaming creators. Many have expressed that 2024 was a challenging year. Growth was limited, platform changes were frustrating, and income was assuredly down for many. Optimistically, 2025 will present opportunities for creators willing to be flexible and innovative! Sticking with the status quo (if you've not seen growth in the last 2 years) likely won't result in a reversal this year. So, if you're hoping to make (or keep) this your career or part-time job, those who go above and beyond to differentiate, diversify, and disrupt will be the ones who thrive.

First, let me quickly recap my 2024 Predictions! I made a video reviewing and grading myself, which you can see below. Eight of twelve were correct, two partially, and two wrong (in 2024, anyway).

  1. Twitch Austerity. Grade: A+, aced it!
  2. More Ads and Ad Formats. Grade: A+, again called it.
  3. Mobile Discovery. Grade: A+, got it exactly correct.
  4. Twitch Turbo Revamp. Grade: F. I'm early, and we'll see this eventually.
  5. Changes to Prime Gaming. Grade: A-. It's pretty accurate, but I missed some details.
  6. Viewership Starts to Grow. Grade: B. Technically accurate.
  7. Semi-Permanent Twitchcon Locations. Grade: B+, nearly nailed it, why Rotterdam though?!
  8. Dual Output. Grade: B+. Again, I'm just early. This is happening in 2025.
  9. Guest Star Becomes Popular, Temporarily. Grade: C. The idea here happened, but the end game did not. Early? Probably.
  10. Bounty Board Shut Down. Grade: F-. Twitch Hopium hurts. This should have happened, but Twitch is struggling, and thus, things get delayed longer than they should.
  11. YouTube does SOMETHING with Live. Grade: D-. They did stuff for Live on Vertical but practically nothing for Desktop. What are they doing?!!
  12. Facebook Gaming Mothballed. Grade: B+. It's not mothballed, but I don't know if anyone knows it exists.

And now, let's jump into my Streaming Predictions for 2025!