Call of Duty League 2024: Stage 3 Major Qualifiers see lowest peak viewership since 2022

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Call of Duty League 2024: Stage 3 Major Qualifiers was held from April 12 to May 12 online. Twelve top sides duked it out for seeding supremacy in the main event, but an unbeaten run from the eventual winner could not save it from seeing the least peak concurrent viewers for a qualifier, continuing the downward trend seen at the qualifiers of the previous Major.

After a month of action, it was Atlanta FaZe who ended atop the qualifiers podium after going on an undefeated 7-0 run to clinch the full 70 Call of Duty League points. The second and third-placed Toronto Ultra and OpTic Texas, respectively, lost a game each so they took home 60 CDL points.

  CDL 2024: Stage 3 Major Qualifiers — viewership stats and most popular games   

The Call of Duty League 2024: Stage 3 Major Qualifiers ended with 129.6K Peak Viewers, achieved during the Week 1, Day 3 meeting between Atlanta FaZe and OpTic Texas. It was a clash between the sport's most popular side and the league's most consistent team over the past few years, meaning their matches always attract high attention from fans and critics.

The Texas-based side was also the only one to appear on the most popular games list more than once, with its four entries reiterating why it remains the most followed organization among fans of Call of Duty esports. The good performances of these prominent teams helped this competition hit 4.1M Hours Watched and 59.6K Average Viewers over 70 hours of airtime.

There is no surprise as to which was the most popular team at this Call of Duty League tournament when it came to average online viewers. This is a good metric to see which esports orgs enjoy the backing of a higher number of fans, and the continued success of a few names ensures they consistently finish near the top of this table at every competition.

Coming to comparisons, this CoD competition ended as the Major qualifier with the lowest peak viewership figures over the past two seasons. It did 17.8% less than the previous edition, while the average online viewership fell by a more significant 21.1%.

  Most popular Major qualifiers in the CDL over the last two seasons   

With broadcasting rights returning to YouTube, the number of channels live-streaming the matches has come down in the 2024 season. The viewership figures that the likes of Scump and ZooMaa Live, alongside the official channels, have been drawing since the first Major qualifiers have also been reducing.

While the Call of Duty League 2024: Stage 1 Major saw a higher watch time and peak than the final Major of 2023, the subsequent two editions have witnessed steadily declining audience figures. Audience interest has been dwindling despite the prominent teams mostly performing per expectation, so a return to multiple streaming services to pull in as many fans as possible might be the way forward.

There are also other tournaments from prominent titles like Valorant and CS2 settling into their new seasons at the same time and taking away viewers from Call of Duty. Popular tournaments like the ESL Pro League Season 19, the VCT 2024 international leagues, and RLCS 2024 - Major 2 qualifiers were being conducted simultaneously, so viewer attention would have been divided among them.

What also didn't help was the chop and change in rosters before and during this event. As many as five sides made changes to their squads before the qualifiers began, making it harder for fans of pros who were not participating to invest in the matches.

Luckily, the two Majors so far have more or less been on the green side for its organizers. Hence, they will hope that come the main event for the third Major, which will run from May 16 to 19, the teams turn on the heat and help do good business to continue the game's pretty solid run so far this year.