The Game Awards Sets Viewership Records With 103 Million Views

The Game Awards for years has been the most-watched awards show. Its viewership has eclipsed that of the Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and more. The Game Awards first premiered in 2014, with a small viewership of 1.9 million. The 2022 awards reached a record 103 million views across all platforms. 

TGA is the largest annual media event in history, and as the awards celebrate its 10th annual show next year, it is more than likely that the show will continue to grow further. 

Key Takeaways 

• The 2022 Game Awards had 103 million views across all platforms
• TGA has received more views than any other awards show this year 
• The Game Awards viewership rivaled that of major sporting events

The number of Game Awards viewers for this year was confirmed by host Geoff Keighley on Twitter.

Historical #TheGameAwards viewership numbers:

2022: 103 Million
2021: 85 Million
2020: 83 Million
2019: 45.2 Million
2018: 26.2 Million
2017: 11.5 Million
2016: 3.8 Million
2015: 2.3 Million
2014: 1.9 Million

Next year marks out 10th annual show.

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) December 16, 2022

10 Million of these viewers were watching from Steam, where viewers had a chance to win a Steam Deck every minute of the awards show if they watched through Steam on desktop or through the app.

Thanks! Yeah; it went a little longer due to some speeches! The Steam Deck giveaway was also a huge boost, almost 10m Steam customers watched the show, so that was a big increase YoY.

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) December 16, 2022

To show just how high the Game Awards viewership was, we should compare viewership to the largest awards shows in the world, and we could even compare it to major sporting events.

These were the viewership numbers for the largest music/film/tv awards shows in 2022:

• Grammy Awards – 8.93 Million
• Academy Awards – 15.36 Million
• Emmy Awards – 5.92 Million 
• Golden Globe Awards (2021) – 5.4 Million
• People’s Choice Awards (2021) – 3.67 Million
• Tony Awards – 3.9 Million

Even the super bowl rivaled the game awards for viewership. Super Bowl 56 amassed 112 million viewers, 9 million more than TGA. 

How Large Can The Game Awards Grow?

The Game Awards started with its humble beginnings in 2014 with 1.9 million viewers, soaring to 103 million today. It begs the question, how big could TGA get? 

Much of this year’s growth was attributed to Valve’s Steam Deck giveaway, which accounted for 10 million viewers. If TFA were to continue to do similar giveaways during the event, it would sustain this year’s growth in future years.

Giveaways with other partners such as Xbox, Epic Games, Playstation, Nintendo, and more could boost viewership even further. If we assume that the Game Awards will grow at a constant 25% year over year, by 2027 the awards show could be pushing over 250 million viewers.

If we assume that 2023 will see viewership growth of 25%, and a stable 20% growth rate thereafter, by 2027 viewership could be around 267 million, if not higher. 

TGA is a major global event. Video games are the largest and highest-grossing form of media, so it makes sense that an award show dedicated to gaming would be the largest of all of them.

If TGA continues to do partnerships for giveaways, and if they include a larger slate of major announcements, The Game Awards will continue to grow.

Geoff loves to do his one last thing where a major announcement comes at the end of each ceremony. In 2020 it was Mass Effect 4. In 2021, it was the Matrix UE5 demo.

Imagine if a Grand Theft Auto 6 announcement were to come at The Game Awards, and what the viewership would be if the announcement was marketed beforehand? (Hint hint Take-Two executives).