Early US start for OpTic vs. FaZe limits EWC x CoD 2024 viewership potential

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Another week, another event comes to a close as we edge closer to the conclusion of the inaugural Esports World Cup 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Call of Duty competition ended on August 18 with a familiar name coming out on top, but there were some viewership quirks that will be delved into deeper later in this article.

This tournament was played between the 16 best teams in the game and included Call of Duty League participants. It carried a prize pool of $1.8 million, with Atlanta FaZe beating North American rival 100 Thieves 4:2 in the Grand Final to emerge as the champion and pocket $600,000.

It was just reward for the tournament winner, who has been the CDL's most consistent side, topping all five Regular Season points tables in its current guise. However, that one recent world championship trophy to stamp its authority was missing, and Atlanta was finally able to get rid of that blemish by clinching its first such title since the Call of Duty League Championship 2021.

  Atlanta FaZe finally backed its CDL consistency with a global trophy (Image via EWC 2024)   

The CoD x Esports World Cup 2024 recorded 140.1K Peak Viewers during the Playoffs Quarterfinals between OpTic Gaming and Cloud9. This battle between two CDL 2024 Major winners saw the former continue its recently found momentum to emerge as 3:1 victors.

It has to be noted that OpTic is the most popular side in the game and recently ended its two-year title drought by winning the Call of Duty League 2024: Stage 3 Major before adding another world championship to its kitty by winning the Call of Duty League 2024 Playoffs. New York (Cloud9's CDL representative), meanwhile, was the 2023 world champion and remains one of the most consistent sides on show, so a clash between the two was always going to mean blockbuster action.

  CoD x Esports World Cup 2024 – top matches and basic viewership stats   

One surprising point to emerge was that the Playoffs Semifinals between OpTic Gaming and Atlanta FaZe, the biggest and oldest rivalry in the game's history, was only the third-most popular game. The game was held in the morning for American audiences, which may not have been the most suitable time for a match of such magnitude.

This is where OpTic versus Cloud9 benefitted despite not being as important, as it was slotted for a post-lunchtime run, a much better way to attract audiences from these teams' home fans. Additionally, each game in the series was pretty one-sided, with Atlanta winning three straight matches after losing the first one to advance to the summit clash.

Interestingly, two Group Stage games made the top games by peak concurrent viewers list, including the all-NA clash between OpTic Gaming and OMiT. The other meeting between was Cloud9 and Gentle Mates, a do-or-die situation for two popular teams, with the winner of this Group B Decider Match advancing to the Playoffs and the loser heading home, so the stakes were high and fans invested.

The CoD x Esports World Cup 2024 also notched 2.68M Hours Watched and 86.4K Average Viewers over 31 hours of airtime. These numbers could have been higher if not for Optic heading out in the Semifinals after losing 1:3 to the eventual winners. Considering the Texas-based side was attracting a healthy crown every game, its presence in the Grand Final could have taken the overall watch time closer to the 2.85M HW mark.

Another reason for these figures not being higher was that the Playoffs games were held in the single elimination format, as seen throughout the rest of the EWC 2024. Call of Duty fans are used to seeing Double Elimination brackets whereby they can witness their teams play more games, but with that missing in Riyadh, the watch time of the event also came down.

  CoD x Esports World Cup 2024 – top channels   

Moreover, Gentle Mates, a huge draw among French-speaking audiences thanks to its co-owner Gotaga, who covers all its games, not making the Playoffs affected the dynamics negatively. This can be seen in the fact that this language was the second-highest contributor to this CoD event's overall watch time, with 11.12%, which could have been higher had the side played the knockout phase.

Gotaga himself finished among the top three most watched and popular channels, with scump once again finishing atop both metrics. Most importantly, the CoD x Esports World Cup 2024 notched the highest French language viewership ever for any event in the game, reiterating the value a team like Gentle Mates brings.

This EWC 24 tournament also missed the presence of official CoD channels when compared to the other major events this year. While the four Majors and the Playoffs, which were YouTube exclusive, saw fewer channels but more official ones covering the action, the Riyadh offering did not have official Call of Duty channels live streaming the games.

Among community casting, too, the numbers were not high, with scump being the only one to cross the 1M HW barrier on Twitch, although his watch time was around 30% lower at any other prominent 2024 event. While Gotaga certainly helped bring in a record number of French viewers, Zoomaa, another CDL regular, was not that active, with his broadcasts on the purple platform hovering in the thousands.

  Most popular Call of Duty events in 2024   

Nevertheless, the CoD x Esports World Cup 2024 ended as one of the more popular competitions in the game this year. On a table led by the recent world championship, it occupies the seventh spot, ahead of the last Major of the CDL season, which endured a fallow run and posted the lewest PV numbers since 2022.

With this, the 2024 season of Call of Duty Modern Warfare III esports has come to a close. It was another that bedded the game into the competitive fabric and helped it settle into a role as one of the better-run non-mobile shooters. Fans will be excited to see what 2025 brings, especially with the release of the new game, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, later this year.