Despite OpTic Texas' first win in over two years, CDL 2024: Stage 3 Major is least popular one this year

Loading

The Call of Duty League 2024: Stage 3 Major concluded after five days of riveting action on May 20 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Canada. Despite the poor performance of its qualifier, the main event signaled a return to form, more or less hitting the same peak concurrent numbers the first two Majors of the year did.

This Call of Duty competition had $375,000 at stake as the overall prize money, with the winner taking home $150,000. In the Grand Final, OpTic Texas eased past Toronto Ultra 4:0 to emerge as the champion and grab its first main event win since the Call of Duty League 2022 Stage 1 Major.

The most popular side in the discipline today also earned a valuable 100 CDL Points, which will count towards its direct qualification for the Call of Duty League 2024: Playoffs. The runner-up, meanwhile, became richer by $90,000 and pocketed a priceless 75 CDL Points, consolidating its position on the podium of this leaderboard.

  Call of Duty League 2024: Stage 3 Major — most popular matches and basic viewership stats   

The Call of Duty League 2024: Stage 3 Major recorded 238.4K Peak Viewers during the Elimination Final between OpTic Texas and Atlanta FaZe. This fixture has become somewhat of a holy grail for fans of the game, pitting its most followed side against arguably its most consistent one over the past few years, so it naturally attracts crowds especially when there is some jeopardy on the line, like qualification to the summit clash.

Speaking of the title decider, it was the second-most popular match, with fan interest driven by the fact that OpTic Texas was looking for revenge after losing to the Canadian side in the Winners Round 2, sending it to the elimination bracket. The hype around these prominent sides clashing and their mostly closely-fought battles helped this Call of Duty competition register 3.5M Hours Watched and 116.4K Average Viewers over 30 hours of airtime.

Interestingly, the usual name, OpTic Texa, was not atop the list of most popular sides by Average Viewers at the Call of Duty League 2024: Stage 3 Major. But there was a big reason for that, with home support ensuring to carry Toronto Ultra to the Grand Final unbeaten and helping it top this particular leaderboard. In fact, it was not even in the top two despite ending a Major title drought that stretched over two years, which is not something we see every day in CoD esports. 

Although very minute, this Call of Duty League event was also marked by a small number of non-English speakers getting together to catch the action. French and Portuguese viewers were the risers, with the tournament finding a taker on Kick as well thanks to plzcallmedub, an upcoming creator from the US.

  Call of Duty League — Most popular Majors ever   

When comparing the three Majors held this year, they have more or less been hitting similar peak concurrent viewership numbers, though the most recent one was the lowest. It still did better than two of the Majors from last season, which had the benefit of co-casting on Twitch as well. 

Even the watch times for the three Majors in 2024 are close to one another, with the third one being last thanks to the lower airtime. In essence, after the first Major did much better in terms of peak concurrent viewers than the previous one, things have been pretty consistent for this Call of Duty series.

In fact, among all the Majors held within the CDL, all three from this year have made the top six in terms of Peak Viewers. The first two have also entered the top three by watch time, with only the record-setting Call of Duty League 2023: Stage 3 Major ahead of them.

Led by the likes of Scump and ZooMaa, the audience reach has been pretty high, continuing the good work done in 2023, when the regular season saw a 200% rise in its watch time compared to 2022. Moreover, with the Call of Duty League 2023: Playoffs becoming the most-watched post-season event, fans have reason to be optimistic that this could be another banner season for the legendary franchise's esports scene.