Athletes are human, and humans crave connection — the feeling of belonging to a shared moment. In 2025, more athletes than ever have turned to Twitch to build that kind of community.

Kyrie Irving chatting through a 24-hour stream. The Sanders brothers allowing fans to sit inside Shedeur’s NFL draft-day chaos. Ja’Marr Chase and Cam Skattebo peeling back the curtain on their lives. One by one, athletes have opened their doors and virtually invited fans into something real.

“A huge part is authentically connecting with those people, with their fans — and they turn to Twitch to do that,” Twitch CEO Dan Clancy said to The Athletic.

Twitch’s year in review, released Tuesday, highlighted the top moments of 2025, during which athlete and celebrity streams climbed nearly 20 percent and streams tagged “athlete” jumped close to 40 percent, according to the company.

It’s a long way from Twitch founder Justin Kan’s early “lifecasting” days, when he would stream his day-to-day existence on Justin.TV, the platform that preceded Twitch. Still, the spirit is the same. Twitch became a gaming powerhouse after its 2011 rebrand; however, since the platform lifted its strict gaming-only content rules in 2016, “IRL” (in real life) streams have exploded.

Now, anyone can go live. Athletes sit at home, gaming or talking, with a chat scrolling beside them. Sometimes thousands watch and chat; sometimes only a few hundred. Either way, the connection feels direct and unfiltered.

“Our fandom is really all about this authentic experience of them as human beings,” Clancy said. “People want to see them as real humans.”

He’s also seen a wave of high-profile athletes jump in. Irving and Skattebo stream regularly, as do Chase, De’Aaron Fox, Paul George and Jermaine Johnson. The platform’s top creator is Kai Cenat, with over a million subscribers. His monthlong, 24/7 “mafiathon” streams have drawn guests like LeBron James and Draymond Green — James staying on for more than an hour as more than 100,000 viewers watched.

“Whatever she say, we say. Buh-lieve it. She’s our spokesperson.”
– StudBudz on Napheesa Collier’s comments about WNBA leadership pic.twitter.com/bbSDCqlFWT

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) October 10, 2025

One of the platform’s seminal sports moments in 2025 was the “Stud Budz” — Minnesota Lynx guards Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman — and their 72-hour All-Star Weekend stream. The idea started as a throwaway line from Williams. However, once fans heard, they not only locked in but expected the content to be available.

“All-star was low-key creeping up, and people were like, ‘Oh yeah, we can’t wait for the 72-hour stream,’” Williams told The Athletic. “We were like, ‘Whoa, they’re going to hold us to that.’”

Before the All-Star marathon, the duo’s nightly streams drew a few dozen to a few hundred fans, who watched as Williams and Hiedeman broke down WNBA games. Occasionally, they reached 1,000 viewers, but the 72-hour stream transformed everything.

Williams, Hiedeman and their friend and manager, Tenzin Dekyi, carried the camera everywhere, capturing scenes that included commissioner Cathy Engelbert dancing at a private event, the duo roaming hotel halls and teasing MVP candidate Napheesa Collier, Williams fighting off a brutal hangover at practice and even a black screen while they slept — which 5,000 viewers stuck around to watch. At its peak, they said the stream hit roughly 40,000 viewers.

Were they worried about filming the chaos? Tens of thousands of fans looking in on the back halls of the WNBA? Seeing players while they were inebriated, partying or enjoying camaraderie?

“We wasn’t worried about all of that,” Williams said. “It’s a live stream. Everybody in the space knew what we were doing. If you came around us, you knew you were going to be on the stream.”

The “Stud Budz” debuted just before All-Star and quickly blew past 10,000 followers. They’re now at 82,000 and rising. Through it all, the intimacy stayed intact.

“We know people from our chat now,” Hiedeman said. “They got a whole community. We see them every time we get on. We know who we’re talking to.”

Other sports moments that defined Twitch’s 2025 included Cenat suggesting what touchdown dance Jacksonville Jaguars rookie Travis Hunter should use in the NFL, Skattebo banging his head through a chair while recovering from an ankle injury, the moment Sanders heard his name called in the NFL Draft and the Los Angeles Kings broadcasting an entire game on Twitch in an interactive experience. Each stream provided fans with glimpses of the sports world that would rarely be seen in previous eras.

“Social media, interestingly, I think in some ways is anti-social,” Clancy said. “It doesn’t actually get you closer to your fans in a visceral sense. I think athletes turn to live (streaming) because they yearn for that authentic connection with their fans, rather than the distance that occurs on other social media platforms.”

Few aspects of 21st-century life foster connections like sports do. Thousands gathered, whether in a stadium or glued to a livestream, breathing the same moment in real time. Athletes crave the live current that flows through arenas — to stand at the center, orchestrating communal moments. Videographers can package an athlete through short-form video, but hours on a livestream can erode those façades. That’s what Clancy believes pulls athletes like Skattebo and Sanders to Twitch. They can show themselves, unfiltered, and share a moment with hundreds or thousands at once.

“When you’re live, you can’t wear a mask for that long,” Clancy said. “I can touch up a picture. On Instagram, I can build a caricature of myself. You can’t do that live. They’re there for you.”