Call of Duty League 2025 sees higher average viewership after two stages

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Top-tier Call of Duty esports returned to the U.S. after the Madrid experiment. The second major of the Call of Duty League 2025 season took place in Allen, a city in Collin County, Texas. For OpTic Gaming, it was a home tournament, but they failed to deliver for their fans, exiting at an early stage of the playoffs. Meanwhile, Atlanta FaZe once again claimed the championship. As for the event itself, it maintained a more consistent viewership than Major 1, though its peak audience fell short of the Spanish edition.

Despite extensive co-streaming and the tournament’s return to a familiar time zone for its core audience (mainly in North America, particularly the U.S.), it fell short of the 200,000 Peak Viewers (PV) mark. The most popular match was a lower-bracket showdown between Minnesota RØKKR and OpTic Texas, where Anthony "Shotzzy" Cuevas-Castro’s squad was eliminated, missing the top six for the second time this season.

Following OpTic’s early exit, the event's viewership also dropped: after their final match, the peak concurrent viewers in subsequent games was consistently lower by at least 23,000 concurrent viewers. The second most popular match was the grand final between Atlanta FaZe and Vancouver Surge, whose matchups in the second round of CDL 2025 delivered plenty of exciting moments for the audience.

Due to OpTic's early elimination, they also failed to become the most popular team of the tournament. Overall, it’s worth noting that the audience sizes among the top 5 most popular teams at this tournament weren’t as drastically different as in the Madrid Major. However, the leader once again was the same team that ranked #1 in the previous Major, and there were two new teams in the top five compared to the last event.

The second major of the season fell short of the first in several metrics, with one exception: average viewership. On average, each five-minute segment of the Stage 2 Major had around 8,000 more concurrent viewers than its predecessor. According to statistics from key channels, the primary factor was a more viewer-friendly time zone for American audiences. American co-casters drew larger crowds this time, while European co-casters attracted fewer viewers.

Want full event statistics and detailed data on specific matches and teams? Interested in a breakdown of viewership by platform and language? Need data on all broadcast channels? Getting this information is simple!

The growth in average viewership is a key highlight of CDL-2025 compared to the same period last season. Despite major format changes, including the addition of two new tournaments in Stages 1 and 2, audience interest in CDL increased, reaching over 21 million Hours Watched (HW) after two stages, up from 18 million in 2024.

A key factor behind CDL’s success is the viewership rewards, which viewers can earn each day of the Major. This, along with the natural interest in the content, is yielding results: the league has managed to increase total watch time, primarily driven by a 21% rise in average viewership, rather than an increase in content volume (airtime grew by just 15%).

Overall, Call of Duty League 2025 has shown solid viewership results so far, with the growth in average viewership being a particularly positive sign for organizers. That said, the situation isn’t entirely without its challenges: peak viewership for the second major was significantly lower than the first, and it’s unusual for CDL majors to draw fewer than 200,000 PV. However, if OpTic Gaming or Los Angeles (now covered by one of France's top streamers) remain in the tournament longer next time, viewership could rise noticeably.