Online Hosts Were Real Winners Tuesday Night, Though TV Still Drew Bigger Audiences

Livestreams draw large crowds

Hasan Piker’s election-night broadcast combined live election figures with informal moments away from the camera. Across platforms, the stream recorded 29 million views and held more than 300,000 simultaneous viewers at its peak for nearly three hours. Streams Charts reported that Piker reached 241,783 concurrent viewers on Twitch and accumulated 1.75 million hours watched. The broadcast ranked second among individual streams that night, behind NBC’s “Kornacki Cam.”

Television retains larger ratings

Despite the online audience, traditional networks drew more viewers overall during primetime. Nielsen figures put NBC’s average at 6.8 million, ABC’s at 5.1 million and Fox News’ at about 4 million. The figures show the growing competition from independent creators, whose political reach has expanded over the past year, while established broadcasters work to adapt their reporters for digital platforms.

Piker’s political connections

Piker supported Abdul El-Sayed, who won Michigan’s Senate election on Tuesday and is positioned to become the first Muslim senator. CNN reported that El-Sayed asked Piker to moderate his commentary after the streamer said pro-Israel Jews should worry about their personal safety.

Piker also appeared with Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and backed progressive candidates Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York. Both won congressional seats on Tuesday. He said his focus was commentary, not serving as a campaign surrogate, and expressed regret over some past remarks, including comments about the September 11 attacks.

Influencers gain political significance

Streams Charts counted 10.27 million hours of political livestream viewing across more than 2,500 channels during the 30 days before the November 3 vote. The total equaled more than 1,170 years of continuous viewing.

A 2025 Pew Research Center survey found that 38 percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 regularly get news from social media influencers, compared with 8 percent of adults aged 65 and older. Analysts remain divided over whether streamers can match the reach of major podcasters such as Joe Rogan.