Call of Duty League sets new viewership record amid OpTic Texas triumph
OpTic Texas cemented their legacy with a commanding victory at the 2025 Call of Duty League Championship, securing back-to-back titles and igniting a weekend of record-breaking viewership. The grand final drew the highest peak audience in CDL history, while the league’s most prominent co-streamer shattered personal records with the biggest broadcast his YouTube channel has ever seen.
The 2025 Call of Duty League Championship ran from June 26 to 29 in Kitchener, Canada, marking the final tournament played on the Black Ops 6 installment. The top eight teams in the league battled it out in a double-elimination bracket for a $2 million prize pool.
The tournament kicked off with a heavyweight showdown between OpTic Texas and Atlanta FaZe, where OpTic dominated with a decisive 3:0 sweep. That explosive start set the tone for the rest of their run. OpTic Texas went on to shut out both Toronto Ultra and Boston Breach, before finishing strong with a 5:3 win over Vancouver Surge in the grand final.
OpTic Texas coach Damon “Karma” Barlow has earned five Call of Duty World Championship titles — combining his achievements as both a player and a coach / Photo: x.com/CODLeague
Mason ‘’Mercules’’ Ramsay was named MVP of the 2025 Call of Duty League Championship, a well-deserved honor for the only OpTic Texas player who hadn’t yet claimed a major title in his career. This victory marked OpTic Texas’s second straight CDL Championship win. The team also took home the trophy last year at the 2024 Call of Duty League Playoffs, where they defeated the New York Subliners in the grand final.
Call of Duty League Championship 2025 Viewership Statistics
The 2025 Call of Duty League Championship matches totaled 3.78 million Hours Watched, down 6% from last year’s finals. The decline in HW was entirely due to shorter broadcast time (-24% compared to the previous season's Playoffs). However, other viewership numbers tell a different story: average concurrent viewers increased by 23.4%, and peak concurrent viewership jumped 24.8% compared to the previous year’s Playoffs.
The grand final of the 2025 Call of Duty League Championship between OpTic Texas and Vancouver Surge hit a peak of 353,525 concurrent viewers, the highest in Call of Duty League history. In past seasons, no playoff match had ever crossed the 300,000 Peak Viewers mark.
OpTic Texas played four matches in the tournament, and every one of them ranked among the most-popular series in CDL Championship 2025. This clearly shows why OpTic Texas is the most popular teams in the franchise league.
Most popular Call of Duty League tournaments by Peak Viewers
When comparing the 2025 Call of Duty League Championship to last year’s final, two metrics stand out: the number of unique channels covering the event doubled, and Seth ‘’Scump’’ Abner’s channel experienced a major audience boost. His average viewership jumped 34.4%, while peak viewership increased by 32.4%. During the grand final, Scump’s stream peaked at 173,774 concurrent viewers, a new all-time high for his YouTube channel.
CDL Season Viewership Comparison
Overall, the expanded CDL format can be considered a success. The league brought in more viewers, the season was more streamlined, and the effort to attract audiences from new regions — like Europe — showed real promise.
The next big Call of Duty tournament will be held during the Esports World Cup 2025 from July 24 to 27. The event will include teams from the Call of Duty League alongside winners of Dreamhack Dallas Open and the Call of Duty Challengers 2025 Finals. Notably, many CDL players have formed short-term partnerships with top European clubs, so in Riyadh, they’ll compete under banners such as G2 Esports, Team Heretics, KOI, and other well-known organizations. The move was made to boost organizations’ chances in the race for the EWC Club Championship.
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