CDL 2024 Regular Season sees 29% dip in average viewers compared to last year
The Regular Season of the latest Call of Duty season has ended, and there's quite a lot to digest for fans. Perhaps the biggest topic of discussion will be the move to bring the entire league back to YouTube, which has severely affected the game's reach after it enjoyed a pretty stellar 2023.
After all, last year, the performances of all 12 sides helped the Regular Season register jumps in viewership figures across the board when calculating the five majors and their qualifiers. However, 2024 could not continue that momentum, with the move to reduce the Call of Duty League to four Majors seeing a decline in audience reach.
Readers must also remember that two sides — Carolina Royal Ravens and Miami Heretics — were announced as new entries to the league. They replaced London Royal Ravens and Florida Mutineers from the previous season's line-up of esports organizations amid much fanfare, although only one made the season-ending finale.
Moreover, the league adopted the then-just-released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 as the game of choice. It meant that, alongside new rosters and teams, fans would get to see an entirely fresh map pool and extended qualifying weeks this year, adding to the intrigue for a season with lots to live up to.
However, the Regular Season of the CDL 2024 saw identical falls in viewership numbers across the board. While the watch time dipped by 27.8%, the peak viewership nosedived by 26.8%, even though the airtime went up by an admittedly negligible 1%. The average online spectatorship also decreased by almost 28.5%, meaning it was not as well-received as the previous season.
However, compared to the 2022 season, when the COD events were also exclusively broadcast on the red platform, the figures remained higher. A big reason for this was the move of scump and ZooMaa Live to YouTube Live, with their ability to pull in viewers helping the four Majors and their qualifiers maintain sedate, if not spectacular, numbers.
As always, the former OpTic Texas pro was in high demand, almost matching the official broadcast when it came to cumulative watch time across the Regular Season. His final Hours Watched count was just 5% lower than the CoD League YouTube account, and there is no doubt that if he had been on Twitch, these figures would have been higher, meaning he would have ended up as the top destination for fans of the game.
It must be noted that rewards were once again available for viewers on the Google-owned streaming service, which would have contributed to whatever audience reach it enjoyed. Anyone who watched the official broadcasts for a particular amount of time was entitled to some kind of prize, although this feature is more popular on Twitch.
Interestingly, like the 2023 season, the last Major saw a huge downturn in viewership figures. With most of the eight finalists at the Call of Duty League Championship 2024 decided and OpTic Texas, the sports' most popular side, putting in a disappointing display that saw it finish last in the qualifiers and exit in Elimination Round 1, audience interest seemed to have dwindled.
Sticking with the league's teams, OpTic Texas, despite winning just one Major in 2024 (and breaking its two-plus year drought) and not really turning up for Major 4, ended as the most-watched side by a distance. It did play the joint-second-highest number of games across the Regular Season, with New York Subliners leading this table having played a match more.
Atlanta FaZe, easily the CoD League's most consistent team over the past few years, continued to fly under the radar. It never finished as the most popular side at any of the four Majors but made the podium at all of them, including one win, to top the CDL points table and maintain its astonishing record of topping this leaderboard at all five seasons of the league so far.
The team was also the second-most watched across the Regular Season of these CoD tournaments and only the second to cross the 7M HW mark. Reigning world champion New York Subliners was third on this table, having ended in fourth when it came to CDL points after missing out on scoring at one of the four Majors.
These orgs will now shift the focus to the Esports World Cup 2024 (at least those participating at the Saudi Arabia extravaganza) before the main event of the season, the Call of Duty League 2024 Playoffs. Las Vegas Legion, Carolina Royal Ravens, Minnesota RØKKR, and Boston Breach are the unfortunate teams to miss out on this competition.
However, with the main name in and at least two million on the line, fans can expect something similar to the 2023 iteration. Those interested in attending the event live in person at the Credit Union of Texas Events Center in Allen, Texas, from July 18 to 21 can buy tickets here.
Lastly, readers interested in detailed stats of such competitions can check out our PRO subscription. It will provide them with access to in-depth data on teams, players, earnings, and more.
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