C.O.P.A. Free Fire 2023 helps Brazilian sides tune up ahead of bigger challenges

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The C.O.P.A. Free Fire 2023, a one-month, $38 500 prize pool off-season tournament in Brazil, ended on March 25. However, it came nowhere close to matching the viewership stats posted at last year’s event, but there was a good reason for that.

Started in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to help the teams get some miles under their fingers after the cancellation of the second split that year, this event has become a much-awaited fixture in the region’s Free Fire esports scene. This time, instead of 24 teams, only the 18 best sides from the country were called upon to compete against each other, while the prize pool saw a big drop from over $192,000 in 2022.

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C.O.P.A. Free Fire 2023 gets season off to a sedate start

  Basic stats and match dynamics from the C.O.P.A. Free Fire 2023   

The competition did 685K Hours Watched, 84K Peak Viewers, and 32K Average Viewers, which were decreases of 18.7%, 22.9%, and 29.1% from the C.O.P.A. Free Fire 2022: Corrida do Milhão. With this year’s event not seeing much streaming on the Booyah! app, which is a major contributor to the discipline’s viewership numbers from the SEA region and of audiences from non-Portuguese speaking areas, there was a drop in these stats.

Also, with TikTok banned in massive markets like India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US, and Taiwan, the fall in viewership numbers was only to be expected. However, despite its unavailability in many countries, the video-sharing app remained a popular platform to catch the live action.

TikTok was the second most platform to catch the broadcast of the C.O.P.A. Free Fire 2023, followed by Twitch. However, the number one place for fans to watch the event live was YouTube, which took a huge 91.74% of the total HW share.

The official Brazil Free Fire Esports channel was the most popular for viewers to watch the competition, followed by its corresponding channel on TikTok. Rounding off the podium was the official Free Fire Esports Brazil channel on Twitch, showing how much Booyah! was missed, as it was the second most popular channel and platform in 2022.

  How the 2022 and 2023 events stacked up against each other   

With Free Fire esports up and running in Brazil, which is one of its most valuable regions, sides from here will be looking forward to the revamped LBFF 2023: Series A - Stage 1, an admittedly poorly-received change in the competition that begins on April 15 and runs till August 5. The winner will represent the region at the season-ending Free Fire World Series.