BLAST R6 Major Montreal 2024: English-language broadcasts' viewership increased by 28%

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The BLAST R6 Major Montreal 2024 has wrapped up Phase 2, and the teams are ready to start the playoff. Initially, the Canadian tournament lagged a bit behind the previous major in terms of viewer numbers, but it gained steam and nearly caught up with its predecessor during Phase 2. A big part of this boost came from streamer Jynxzi, who dedicated over nine hours to community casting. Esports Charts provides a mid-tournament update on the last major of 2024 for Rainbow Six.

The group stage of the BLAST R6 Major Montreal 2024 was played using the Swiss system and delivered plenty of exciting results. One of the biggest shocks was the unexpected early exit of G2 Esports. Two-time Six Invitational winner lost three straight matches and finished at the bottom of the group.

Fans of Team Liquid and DarkZero were probably disappointed as well, as both teams failed to make the playoffs, despite both making it to the semifinals at the previous BLAST R6 Major in Manchester. On a positive note, Team Falcons made a great showing, securing their first-ever playoff appearance at a major. 

The most popular match of Phase 2 was the showdown between Team Liquid and Soniqs, which peaked at over 93.9K viewers. It’s no surprise that the match drew such a big crowd — not only were two top-tier teams facing off, but the game also decided who would be eliminated and who would make it to the playoffs. In the end, the American squad, Soniqs, came out on top, beating Brazil’s Team Liquid 2-0.

Phase 2 of the BLAST R6 Major Montreal 2024 generated around 2.18 million Hours Watched, which is about 4% less than the same stage of the BLAST R6 Major Manchester 2024. In terms of viewership numbers, there was a slight drop of 1-2% compared to the previous major. However, this difference isn't really significant, especially when you consider that early on, Montreal was trailing Manchester by more than 30% in terms of viewership. It's clear that the momentum for the BLAST R6 Major Montreal 2024 is building up, and the Canadian tournament is quickly catching up to the previous major in key metrics after a slower start.

One standout trend is the language breakdown. Phase 2 saw a significant increase in peak viewership on English-language streams, which grew by 29% compared to the Manchester major. This boost can largely be credited to Jynxzi: the American streamer not only took on the role of community caster for the event but also led the tournament in peak viewers. In addition to English, Spanish-language viewership also saw a small uptick, while Portuguese and Japanese streams experienced declines. This drop in viewership was evident on both community-caster channels (like RazaH's) and official tournament channels (such as ESPORTS JP Ubisoft).

BLAST R6 Major Montreal 2024 has already surpassed the Esports World Cup 2024 in viewership and is on track to beat the numbers from BLAST R6 Major Manchester 2024. Several factors are driving this, but the most significant is the increase in the number of broadcast channels. While Manchester had 134 channels covering the event, Montreal has already seen around 160 channels streaming, and that number continues to rise.