BLAST Premier World Final 2023 saw over 20% drop in peak viewership for opening day
The BLAST Premier World Final 2023 began on December 13 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, with the first day seeing the opening matches of both groups take place. One pool saw all its games come to an end the next day, as Team Vitality, Natus Vincere, and Cloud9 were the three sides from Group A to make it to the Playoffs, while ENCE was eliminated without a win.
Group B, meanwhile, will see Heroic face MOUZ in the elimination match, meaning one of these sides will be knocked out when the dust settles. Meanwhile, FaZe Clan battles G2 Esports in a winners match between two of the bigger names in the Counter-Strike 2 esports scene.
Viewership stats from Day 1 of the BLAST Premier World Final 2023
The first day of this Counter-Strike 2 tournament recorded 1.1M Hours Watched, 202.6K Peak Viewers, and 116K Average Viewers over an airtime of 9 hours and 35 minutes. These were falls of 101.8%, 23.9%, and 22.1%, respectively, in all three major metrics, despite the format and venue being the same, while the starting time and date differed by just a day.
One big factor in this reduction was the less interest among audiences of major languages like English and Russian, which fell by massive percentages — 99.7% and 142.6% — in terms of watch time. The differences in peak online viewers, be it for individual languages or as an overall trend, were not that stark, although there were more people interested in most matches on Day 1 in 2022 due to the sheer quality and fame of the teams on display (the likes of NAVI, Team Vitality, Heroic, and FaZe Clan were all in action).
Intriguingly, despite the same number of games on both opening days, the 2022 edition seemingly had longer, more competitive matches across the board. This can be seen from the amount of time the events were on air, with last year's iteration running 65.25% longer in terms of airtime, which contributed to a higher watch time. Moreover, a lot more channels covered the BLAST Premier World Final 2022, although there is still time to catch up on that count as we head into the knockouts.
Also, the dynamics within teams and their relationships with fans have changed a lot. A good example is NAVI, the most popular side by average online viewers last time out but second from bottom after the first one and a bit days in 2023. S1mple’s absence has been a massive letdown for the roster and the competition, as he is currently on a self-imposed break announced towards the end of October.
Last year's finals ended as the most unpopular tournament in the BLAST series across 2022 (not counting Showdown tournaments), which was due to a multitude of factors. While the start has not been ideal in 2023 due to multiple circumstances coming together, there is time for that to change, especially if the likes of NAVI, Team Vitality, FaZe Clan, and Heroic go far.
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