Brawl Stars tournament season is underway, and despite the World Championship yet to come, the esports side of the game is already witnessing a remarkable surge in audience. In this Esports Charts article, we'll delve into the factors fueling the game's popularity and analyze the latest viewership statistics for regional Brawl Stars leagues.
In case you're not familiar, Brawl Stars is a well-known mobile MOBA created by Supercell, the same company behind popular titles like Clash Royale and Clash of Clans. Despite its release back in 2017, it continues to captivate players on both Android and iOS platforms. The game offers a diverse array of match modes, typically played in a 3v3 format, featuring a rich roster of characters each with their own distinctive abilities and fighting styles. Further enhancing its appeal are the colorful skins regularly added by developers, adding variety and visual charm to the experience.
From an esports perspective, Brawl Stars has consistently thrived in Europe, surpassing other regions. European tournaments typically draw 30-40% more viewers than those in Asia or South America, and nearly double the audience of events in North America.
The pinnacle of viewership occurs during the World Championships. For instance, the Brawl Stars World Finals 2022 set a peak viewership record of nearly 395,000 concurrent viewers. In contrast, regional leagues usually garner lower viewership, typically 3 to 5 times less. Last year's standout regional event was the Brawl Stars Championship 2023: February EMEA Monthly Finals, which peaked at 54.3K Peak Viewers. However, there was a significant surge in numbers in 2024. For example, Brawl Stars Championship 2024: March EMEA Monthly Finals saw over 130.5K PV.
Most popular tournaments in Brawl Stars
Currently, the regional leagues of the 2024 season are second only to the World Championships regarding viewership numbers. With each tournament, the game continues to grow its audience, and there are several reasons for this trend.
Spectator growth of Brawl Stars tournaments
In 2024, organizers successfully revamped the format of the Brawl Stars esports season. They streamlined the structure by reducing the number of regional leagues, notably by removing the subdivision of North and South America into additional regions East and West. This consolidation has made the regional leagues more competitive and captivating for viewers. Additionally, they merged the East Asia and SEA leagues, allowing teams from these regions to compete in a unified Asia Pacific league. While there were other adjustments to the format, the main takeaway is that Supercell effectively revitalized the scene, simplified the season format for participants, and introduced viewers to thrilling new matchups.
Brawl Stars events are also broadening their audience through regular viewership rewards. Throughout the season, viewers are rewarded for watching matches on the game's official website, which also hosts various fan activities such as player voting and match outcome predictions.
Another factor is community casters covering esports are experiencing growth. Firstly, there's been an increase in the number of community casters. While the Brawl Stars Championship 2023: April EMEA Monthly Finals aired on just 17 channels, a year later, the 2024 finals were broadcast on 50 unique channels, including the likes of PlayerD and Torii.
Another significant factor is multicasting as many streamers began simulcasting on both Twitch and YouTube. Notably, JoJonaz and Ferre have stood out among these streamers, collectively attracting over 20K Peak Viewers. Even established community casters have seen audience growth over the past year. For instance, SpiukBS's peak viewership surged from 7K to 19K concurrent viewers.
Most popular streamers of Brawl Stars in 2024 года (Jan - Apr)
A huge side factor driving the upward trend is the involvement of top streamers. In 2024, numerous popular Twitch content creators began hosting and continue to host streams featuring Brawl Stars. For instance, ibai took lessons from a "professional Brawl Stars coach" while streaming, coinciding with the announcement of his viral boxing event, La Velada del Año IV.
In 2024, renowned German streamer Trymacs dedicated almost 80 hours to Brawl Stars content, now ranking the game third in his total watch time. Moreover, other big creators have also streamed Brawl Stars, such as TheGrefg, Papaplatte, elxokas, Tumblurr, xRohat, and others.
The motivations behind streamers playing Brawl Stars vary — some streams serve as straightforward game advertisements, while others aim to promote their in-game creator codes and various referral links. Some simply decided to explore the game to attract a new audience to their channels. Undoubtedly, the streams from top streamers to their extensive audiences have significantly contributed to the game's popularity. However, none of them have covered tournaments as community casters.
Supercell Titles Comparison
Supercell has three titles in the esports market: Brawl Stars, Clash Royale, and Clash of Clans. While all three games have esports tournaments with million-dollar prize pools, their popularity differs.
Clash of Clans tournaments are the least popular of the three games. The Clash of Clans World Championship 2020 had the highest viewership, peaking at only 80.7K Peak Viewers. In contrast, Clash Royale and Brawl Stars enjoy greater popularity among viewers. Historically, these games have had similar audience reach, but the trend suggests that Clash Royale's peak years are behind it, reaching its popularity zenith in 2017/18, while Brawl Stars tournament viewership continues to rise. While Clash Royale has slightly more tournaments with peak viewership exceeding 100K PV, Brawl Stars is steadily increasing the number of such events. It seems that it's just a matter of time before Brawl Stars becomes Supercell's flagship esports discipline.
