A mind-blowing start of the PGL Major playoffs — over million viewers at the first quarterfinal!

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The long-awaited PGL Major Stockholm 2021 CS:GO playoffs began in Stockholm. The first quarterfinal matches took place yesterday, and the first of them attracted more than a million Peak Viewers and became one of the most popular matches in the history of the discipline! Esports Charts sums up the first results of the competition's final stage.

Disclaimer: Statistics from Chinese streaming platforms is not included due to its different calculations of viewership activity

Before the start of the playoffs, social media was overflowing with colorful photos of the inside and outside of Avicii Arena, the place where the decisive matches of the major are played. The hype didn't just happen out of nowhere, as the PGL Major was the first tournament in more than two years in which fans were allowed to attend. And the going mad fans in the grandstands after such a long time really warm the soul. Before the first match of the playoffs, there was an opening ceremony, after which GeT_RiGhT placed the major trophy on a special pedestal. And so it began!

First to play in the playoffs were Virtus.pro and Heroic. The Danes were supposed to be the favorites (every seventh bet was on them in the Pick'em Challenge), but VP fought them hard. Heroic played great defense on Inferno and took the key rounds as T, after that VP had a great comeback on Ancient, but in the end lost on the decisive map (Mirage) and left the tournament.

Although half of the Avicii Arena stands were empty during the first match, the Internet audience of the tournament was very excited about the game. The match had over a million Peak Viewers, making it the fifth most popular match in the history of the CS:GO!

Interestingly, the top six most-watched matches in CS:GO include five finals, and VP vs. Heroic is the only exception. We should remind you that the first place by Peak Viewers is held by the ELEAGUE Major 2017 grand final, when VP vs. Astralis match attracted 1.33 million PV.

In the second quarterfinal, G2 Esports and Ninjas in Pyjamas (the favorites of the Avicii Arena crowd) met. The second match attracted much more people to the arena, and the fans supported their teams more actively. But the support didn't help: NiP lost two maps in a row with the same score of 11:16 and left the competition.

The second quarterfinal began late by European time, which is probably why the game had fewer spectators: 913K Peak Viewers were watching the game. Nevertheless, the game still ranked in the top 10 of the discipline by this metric.

On November 5 in the majors more intense battles are expected. First to play will be the Brazilian fan favorite FURIA and one of the best teams of the online era — Gambit Esports. After that Team Vitality and the most popular team in the world (and at the same time the main contender for the title) Natus Vincere will compete. These matches almost certainly will show even more impressive viewership statistics.