Midterm election traffic spiked on Twitch, but Hasan Piker can’t hold a candle to Steve Kornacki

The 2026 U.S. midterm elections resulted in a historic victory for Democrats, but liberals weren’t the only big winners on the night of November 3. Streamers across YouTube, Twitch, Kick, and Rumble picked up more viewership than they’ve ever received during midterm election coverage.

According to Streams Charts, election-related broadcasts on those four platforms combined to haul in 20.87 hours of watch time, collectively reaching 3.4 million concurrent viewers. Across 3,400 channels, election night traffic was more than four times higher than it was during the previous midterms in 2022. (Streams during the presidential election year of 2024, however, did deliver more traffic.)

The increasing midterms viewership on streaming platforms underscored creators’ growing influence in American politics. After Trump used his connections with creators to gain ground in 2024, Democrats fought back by forging their own alliances. Several of the biggest winners in 2026 — including Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff, Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, and Texas Senator-elect James Talarico — boosted their campaigns through robust social media strategies.

The results of that push can be seen on Streams Charts‘ list of the most-watched midterms broadcasts of 2026. Progressive lightning rod Hasan Piker attracted 1.75 million hours of watch time on his November 3 Twitch stream. On the right side of the aisle, Steven Crowder made a big impression on Rumble, bringing in 461,000 hours of watch time.

One of the U.S. Congressional reps who has recognized the political power of creators is California Democrat Ro Khanna. As the so-called blue tsunami crashed down, Khanna stopped by Piker’s Twitch stream and said that his colleagues shouldn’t fear Piker’s influence.

“You would think, after this showing around the country, more people would say ‘yeah, you know what, we may not agree with him on everything, but he’s got a huge following,'” Khanna said. “People across the country are resonating with things that he’s saying about the war. Yeah, maybe we should engage.”

Piker does have a huge following, but even the archetypical himbo can’t keep up with a dorky data analyst who loves rolled-up sleeves and bellwether counties. NBC News went all-in on Steve Kornacki and his “Kornacki Cam” during the midterms, and that turned out to be the right move. Kornacki’s breakdown of the blue tsunami collected 29 million views across all platforms to become the #1 election stream. Per Streams Charts, NBC News picked up 4.39 million hours of election night watch time on YouTube.

So while the size of the blue tsunami may have eclipsed predictions, the distribution of electoral coverage was exactly what we expected. Creators have become indispensable political pundits, but there’s still plenty of room at the table for traditional networks, too.

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