Dota Pro Circuit 2021 overall viewership review

Loading

In early January 2021, Valve announced the start of a new season of Dota Pro Circuit. It reduced the number of majors to two, while the minors and regional qualifiers were replaced with regional leagues with a break of six weeks between them.

The six main regions were divided into two divisions - upper and lower, with eight teams per division. Based on the season’s results, the best teams from the upper division were invited to the major, while the weakest rosters were dropped into the lower division instead. Each team’s place in the standings also affected the particular stage of the major from which the team would begin its performance.

The updated format caused an uproar among the esports community. In particular, the dissatisfaction stemmed from the reduced number of matches and the lack of possibility for the lower division teams to enter The International 2021. In a new article, Esports Charts will talk about the way DPC system changes have impacted the viewer activity within the upper divisions of each region.

Statistics of teams from Europe and the CIS

The Europe and CIS-based audience was the most active one at DPC 2021. Over two seasons of regional leagues, the viewers from these regions scored 23.5M and 11.1M Hours Watched, respectively – therefore demonstrating a stable level of interest in the league.

DPC Season 1 for Europe and the CIS ran from mid-January to early March 2021, showing constant growth of viewership over the course of six weeks. While during the first matches the activity of fans was minimal, it reached significant growth by the end of these events. In the first week, the matches of the European and CIS-based teams were watched by 175K and 100K Peak Viewers, respectively.

The second season saw a significant change in statistics. In the first week, the European division gathered 233K Peak Viewers, a number that grew to 320K (up 37%) in the sixth week. The CIS-based teams went through a real struggle in order to reach their first division indicators. During the first week they reached 130K Peak Viewers, a number that grew to 162K (up 24%) in the fifth week – and yet dropped to 128K by the end of DPC 2021.

Such decline in viewership was also reflected in the league's Hours Watched. At the beginning of the DPC 2021 Season 1, the European teams and CIS-based rosters scored almost 2M and 705K Hours Watched, respectively – but these indicators dropped to 1.4M and 654K Hours Watched when it came to the final matches.

The situation during the DPC 2021 Season 2 was pretty much the same: with the teams scoring 1.5M and 1M Hours Watched in the first week, and 1.5M and 560K Hours Watched in the sixth week, respectively. And that’s despite showing good performance during the event.

Despite the drawdowns, both regions managed to exceed their Season 1 results. When it came to the first and second halves of DPC, 2021, the European teams scored 9.8M and 13.7M Hours Watched, while, the CIS-based teams scored 5.5M and 5.6M Hours Watched, respectively.

Statistics of teams from North and South America

DPC 2021 saw a rise in South American views and a drop in North American views. The latter region was the only one to face a drawdown, given that its representatives amassed 1.8M Hours Watched in the second season, as opposed to 2.1M Hours Watched in the first season.

At the beginning of DPC 2021, South America was far behind North America. Looking at the first season, it can be seen that South America managed to overtake its counterpart only once in terms of Peak Viewers (59K versus 35K: 59% more), and twice in terms of Hours Watched (303K versus 300K: 1% more; 318K versus 235K: 35% more).

In the second season, the South American division came close to the stats of the North American one and collected 2M Hours Watched. By the end of the league, the total amount reached the mark of 3.85M Hours Watched.

Statistics of teams from China and Southeastern Asia

The second seasons of DPC 2021 were overall more successful for China and Southeast Asia as compared to the first seasons – but the growth itself was insignificant. At times, both divisions experienced drawdowns in terms of viewership. But all in all, they have successfully reached 3.8M and 3.9M Hours Watched, respectively.

When comparing them to each other, it can be seen that the indicators of Southeast Asia exceeded those of China throughout the entire league except the fifth week of Season 2: 472K versus 613K Hours Watched (23% less). This was likely caused by the long duration of the Chinese division matches at that particular time.

DPC 2021 ended in June with WePlay AniMajor. Despite all the reshuffling, decreased number of matches in the league, and criticism from the cyberathletes, the new format had a positive impact on viewership and fueled fan interest in the upcoming The International.

The International 10 will take place in Bucharest on October 7-17, 2021. The original plan of Valve was to hold the event in Stockholm, but the agreements with the Swedish government weren’t reached. Therefore, the tournament had to be moved to Romania, where esports is going to be recognized as an official sport.

Subscribe to our social networks to have all the relevant esports statistics at your fingertips. If you would like to analyze tournaments and study the market on your own, consider the benefits of our PRO subscription.