Call of Duty League 2024 Stage 1 Major records 21% more peak concurrent viewers than previous Major
Similar to its Qualifiers, the Call of Duty League 2024: Stage 1 Major received slightly more watch time than the previous iteration of its series thanks to increased Airtime. However, unlike the qualifiers which saw an audience decline, the Stage 1 Major managed to reach a higher peak than 2023 Stage 5 Major event.
2024 sees the Call of Duty League return to YouTube Live exclusive broadcasts, which some fans have criticised. After opening its doors to Twitch in 2023, the league experienced a significant jump in viewership and held its most popular CDL event ever: the 2023 Stage 3 Major, which garnered 335K Peak Viewers. Although viewership was not able to reach this peak, the league has shown its growth and that it can compete with its previous Twitch audience on YouTube exclusively.
In total, the Stage 1 Major which kicks off our 2024 CDL season received 3.97M Hours Watched, which makes it the fourth-most-watched CDL Major event ever. The Qualifiers for this event did receive significantly more watch time, 5.27M Hours Watched, and received more watch time than every Major except the 2023 Stage 3. However, the qualifiers benefit from a much longer runtime, and the 2024 Stage 1 Qualifier was live for over 66 hours, more than double that of the actual Major itself.
The most popular match of the event was the Winners Bracket Round 2 match between Atlanta FaZe and OpTic Texas. It garnered 245K Peak Viewers, tens of thousands of concurrent viewers more than the Grand Final between Atlanta FaZe and Toronto Ultra. FaZe Clan and OpTic Gaming are two historical names for Call of Duty, and it is no coincidence that these two teams were the competitors for the event’s most popular match. Of all of the top 5 most popular matches of the event, every single one featured either Atlanta FaZe or OpTic Texas.
Although OpTic dominated the most popular matches, FaZe was the most-watched team overall. The clan that is entrenched in Call of Duty history generated 1.3M Hours Watched for the event, roughly one-third of the total watch time accumulated by the tournament.
The CDL 2024 Stage 1 Major received considerable viewership with the help of OpTic and FaZe’s hugely popular matches, but how do its dynamics compare to the most recent Major prior: the 2023 Stage 5 Major?
The Stage 1 Major of this year garnered 6.5% more Hours Watched than the previous Major, although Airtime simultaneously increased by 10.8%. This means although watch time did increase, the general viewership did not follow. Average Viewers for the event fell by 3.9%, although the true saving grace for the inaugural 2024 Major was its Peak Viewers figure.
The match between Atlanta FaZe and OpTic Texas recorded a Peak Viewers figure 21% higher than the previous Major’s recorded metric. Similar to many other esports shooters, the Call of Duty League’s viewership is highly dependent upon which teams are playing. At the 2023 Stage 5 Major, FaZe and OpTic never faced each other in the Playoffs stage, and the Losers Bracket Round 1 match between OpTic Gaming and the Los Angeles Thieves became the event’s most popular match.
OpTic is, according to viewership, the most influential team in the CDL. OpTic and FaZe are a dream matchup for sponsors and tournament organisers, but OpTic can manage to perform solo whereas FaZe cannot. As long as OpTic can continue to make the playoffs of events and potentially face some popular rivals, viewership for the CDL Majors will remain strong, but the league will have to continue to evolve and work on itself to outgrow the OpTic gaming fanbase.
Detailed Esports data at your fingertips.
Subscribe to & start exploring!
