Just a week following her return to Twitch, Rachel ‘Valkyrae’ Hofstetter has taken back the top spot on the platform. Streamer status for the second week of January revealed that Valkyrae was the top female streamer on the platform for the second week of January taking down the current top female streamers by a huge margin.
Valkyrae returned to Twitch after streaming for five years exclusively on YouTube with her first stream on January 8th, her birthday. In a week, she once again climbed up the ladders to the top taking over other popular names like emiru, by_Owl, and even Ironmouse by amassing over 700k watch hours.
She started her streaming journey with Twitch back in 2015 and became quite popular in a short amount of time amassing a big fan following. In 2020, Valkyrae signed a two-year exclusive contract with YouTube which was extended twice. Following the conclusion of these contracts, she announced her return to Twitch back in December 2024.
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A warm welcome from loyal fans
Valkyrae’s return to Twitch wasn’t exactly huge as her concurrent viewers remained less than other streamers on the platform. However, those who stick around during her stream usually stay consistent and for a decent amount of duration.
This is quite a surprise as being absent from a platform for five years and returning to a warm welcome from fans tells a lot. With this kind of support, Valkyrae will likely be a regular face in the top ranking from now on if not the top streamer all the time.
Her return to Twitch was due to YouTube favoring video content more than Livestreams, however, that does not mean she will be abandoning the community she formed across YouTube as Valkyrae does plan on multi-streaming across both platforms.