NiKo’s success, Monte rise talking points in chat analytics from IEM Cologne 2023

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The IEM Cologne 2023, held from July 26 to August 6 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany, ended with G2 Esports easing past ENCE 3-1 in the Grand Final to take home the trophy and $400K. The $1M prize pool event may not have been a success for all the big teams but in terms of audience engagement, they still did great, and so did the top players.

Of course, it must be kept in mind that Twitch esports broadcasts are watched today by millions of viewers worldwide. However, with the ability to connect with each other and at times the streamers live-streaming these games, the amount of discussion generated has also reached an all-time high. This is where the distinction between viewership and actual mentions (or discussions) needs to be made, as one reflects the number of people watching competitions and the other reveals the kind of discussions taking place among these viewers, be it about teams, players, the tournament, and so on.

Returning to the chat dynamics of the IEM Cologne 2023, the usual big names like Cloud9, G2 Esports, and FURIA Esports came out as some of the most mentioned teams across Twitch chat at this CS:GO tournament. Similarly, FalleN, s1mple, and dev1ce were part of the list of most talked about esports athletes.

  Most mentioned players and bot/god mention ratio at the IEM Cologne 2023   

Talking about the most popular players by the number of mentions, FalleN took the top spot with 9.3K mentions. Having moved from one Brazilian team to another — Imperial Esports to FURIA Esports — after a string of poor performances for both in early 2023, it was expected that the best player and team in the discipline in the country coming together would solve their issues, but so far, the results have remained less than satisfactory.

S1mple, perhaps the most popular player in the most popular side in CS:GO today — Natus Vincere — was the second most mentioned e-pro. The Ukrainians, usually so consistent, failed to make it out of the Group Stage in Cologne, which was also why the latter stages of the tournament failed to pick up steam among viewers and the media.

The third-most mentioned player was G2 Esports' NiKo, also the tournament MVP. Hailed as the greatest player never to win a Major, he revealed post-Grand Final that this win would help soothe some of that disappointment. What is undoubted is that he has once again shown his why he enjoys such a high stature among fans and colleagues in the esport.

Rounding off the top five are Astralis' dev1ce and G2 Esports' HooXi in fourth and fifth, respectively. The former is known as one of the best players of all time, so it's not surprising to see him figure so heavily in chat discussions. The Dane, meanwhile, has been a big part of his side's amazing run since last December but still comes across as underrated, so his presence here is a nice nod to his talents.

The bot/god ratio, a common trend among fans on Twitch chat referring to pros making spectacular plays or abysmally bad moves, was pretty lopsided towards the positive aspect. This shows just how the quality of the play was, as almost two-thirds of the viewers were mentioning the kind of god-level CS:GO they were witnessing from these talented players and teams.

  Most mentioned teams and their chat dynamics at the IEM Cologne 2023   

Moving on to the teams, the most mentioned one was Cloud9, with 56K mentions, which was 35.1% more than the next-best entry. Despite only finishing in the 5th-6th bracket and not figuring on the top five list of most popular sides, the American team has a lot of hype among fans for being a super team and perhaps having ‘the strongest roster to ever exist’ in the discipline. All this ensured viewers mentioned the org a lot despite a Quarterfinals exit to Team Vitality in the Playoffs.

Tournament winner G2 Esports was second after a flawless run to the IEM Cologne 2023 title. The side was also pretty dominant in the Grand Final, despite some resistance from ENCE at points, and the fact that the European squad won what might perhaps be the last big trophy in CS:GO history ensured fans talked about them a lot and helped them place this high here.

Third was the ever-popular FURIA Esports, who only finished in the 17th-20th bracket but still enjoyed a lot of engagement on chat. That is majorly thanks to the sheer number of Brazilian fans following and willing them to go far in the tournament. With the country's CS:GO streaming star Gaules also heavily broadcasting it, the team received a lot of attention, not to mention the fact that viewers discussed their favorite players and teams a lot.

Astralis and Monte were the fourth and fifth most mentioned sides at the IEM Cologne 2023, with the Danish team's finish in the 3rd-4th bracket helping their cause. The Ukrainian org, meanwhile, has been on a slow rise this year and enjoyed a lot of support from fans back home. Alongside NAVI, it has even helped the language scale new heights in events this year, and that has only meant decent engagement from fans on Twitch.

Cloud9 also achieved the highest single-day peak among teams mentioned on Twitch chat, notching 31K mentions on Day 10. This was when it battled Team Vitality for a place in the Playoffs Semifinals, but lost 2-0 to exit the event. G2 Esports was the only other side to cross 20K mentions on a single day, achieving this feat during its Grand Final victory over ENCE.

FURIA Esports was third, the only other side to make it past 10K mentions for one day. This came during its 2-1 loss to Monte in the Upper Bracket Round 2 of the Play-In, which resulted in its early exit from the tournament. The European side again showed its rising status by finishing fifth here, hitting 8K mentions during its 2-0 loss to Heroic in the Upper Bracket Semifinals of Group A.

The Gamers8 2023 in Saudi Arabia from August 14 to August 20 and the ESL Pro League Season 18 from August 15 to September 24 in Malta are the upcoming events, so it remains to be seen how teams fix any issues and prepare for these competitions. After all, they boast massive prize pools of $1M and $850K, respectively.