Counter-Strike viewership soars in 2025: New regions, roster shuffles & co-casting

It's been a busy start to the year for Counter-Strike esports, with many top-tier events already consigned to the record books. After all, 2025 heralded quite a few changes to the calendar, and it seems the changes to the season's structure, within particular circuits, and in how the game is livestreamed have been paying dividends so far.

One of the most noticeable changes has been the increase in viewership peaks that Counter-Strike competitions have achieved this year. The handful of S-Tier events that have been held over the first five months have averaged much higher peak and average concurrent viewerships than what we witnessed in 2024.

Readers must note that S-Tier tournaments, as described by Liquipedia, are the highest level of competition in Counter-Strike esports. They offer outstanding prize pools, are almost exclusively played offline, feature the best teams globally, and are considered especially prestigious within the community.

This year, Counter-Strike fans have seen ten S-Tier events between January and May, with three breaching the one million Peak Viewers (PV) mark. A look at the calendar for the same period from 2024 shows that none of the six such tournaments hit that mark, with the only CS competition to do so in the first half of the year being a Major.

There was also a significant jump in the mean Average Viewers (AV) these competitions attracted. This year has averaged over 51% more viewers per tournament than what we saw last year, which is no mean feat considering the sheer volume of esports offerings happening and the difficulty in retaining steady viewership throughout an event.

Additionally, the first Major in 2025 is yet to be held, with the world's top sides preparing for the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, scheduled for June 3 to 22. Hence, the rise in average PV/AV from H1 2024 looks that much more impressive, and Esports Charts breaks down the reason for this improvement.

New venues attract fresh faces

Let's start with perhaps the most important aspect of this year's CS2 scheduling: the fact that a lot more prominent events are heading to what might be considered 'minnow/smaller regions.' There is no greater example of this trend than in Central Asia, one of the game's recent rising forces.

Over the past few years, Counter-Strike tournaments of all tiers have popped up across the globe, with S-Tier events making stops in Astana (Kazakhstan), Melbourne (Oceania), Cluj-Napoca (Romania), and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan). Even China's Chengdu (although not strictly Central Asia) joined the coveted Intel Extreme Masters circuit, making it the country's first Counter-Strike 2 event after Valve upgraded from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO).

There will be more S-Tier competitions emanating from perceived "exotic" locations like Hungary, East Asia, and India. The latter two will be interesting cases, but knowing the substantial fanbase the game enjoys in these regions, there is a chance these events push viewership milestones.

Comparing the viewership of non-Major S-Tier CS events for the last two years Comparing the viewership of non-Major S-Tier CS events for the last two years

The crown jewel in this recent move to Central Asia is the PGL Astana 2025, one of the game's major competitons in 2025. It was not only a massive viewership success but also showcased the potential of nations like Kazakhstan, one of the unsung leaders of the early CS esports scene in the noughties, as strong candidates to host top-tier events more often in the future.

The success of sides like The MongolZ, whose recent rise has made it a fixture — and often a contender — in one of the world's toughest competitive gaming scenes, has also helped improve the audience reach. Its success is reflective of Central Asian audiences' growing love for and vocal presence in the title's esports segment. The side consistently attracts strong online numbers, which is a big reason the Mongolian language has been breaking records at multiple recent competitions.

Top CS events for the first five months of the last two seasons Top CS events for the first five months of the last two seasons

It is a similar case with other hitherto scarce regions like Oceania, as CS returned Down Under after a couple of years away. In keeping with the trend, the IEM Melbourne 2025 set a new record as Australia's biggest esports tournament.

It was yet another endorsement of the fact that events held in new locations make the calendar more diverse and attract many more livestreaming fans. In fact, many people from these regions would have been casual viewers until early this year before possibly becoming long-term fans after witnessing the action in person, which is never a bad thing.

ESL's updated Annual Club Incentive encourages big-money roster moves

We then have ESL's Annual Club Incentive, which awards teams with a higher profit share based on their viewership, thus contributing to the higher viewership CS2 has seen this year. The program rewards teams for their contribution to the ESL Pro Tour in the form of tournament attendance, viewership, and promotional activities related to ESL events.

"In 2025, the Annual Club Incentive will reward 16 teams with the largest contributions. A total of $2,950,000 will be distributed among them based on the size of their contribution. This is a non-exclusive program available to any team that wishes to participate."

- ESL about its Annual Club Incentive

With teams' average concurrent viewership shares now contributing to how much they earn per event, fan interaction and engagement have taken a more crucial role than ever before. It has also encouraged esports organizations to sign high-profile pros; that's why we have seen roster moves for the likes of Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev (to FaZe Clan), Danil "m0NESY" Osipov, and Nikola "NiKo" Kovač (both to Team Falcons) in 2025.

With the likes of Robin "Ropz" Kool, Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski, and Danil "molodoy" Golubenko also changing teams, the competitive CS scene has seen renewed interest as fans want to see how all these top names fare with their new teammates. Things have undoubtedly been mixed, although audiences have remained high on the idea of catching their favorite stars turn up for fresh teams, no matter the results.

Perhaps the biggest winner of these roster shuffles in H1 2025 has been Team Vitality, which has been on a tear since signing Ropz. The French side has won six straight trophies and gone on a record 30-game unbeaten run, the second-longest in CS history.

This streak has created a kind of myth of its own among viewers, with fans wanting to see how far Vitality can go. Of course, the interest also involves the "haters", if we can use that term, as followers of rival squads tune in hoping to see their least favorite side finally lose so they can savor the moment live.

Co-casting continues growth

Before signing off, it would not be right of us to skip the rising role that co-casting has played in competitive CS this year. Livestreams from non-official channels have enjoyed a huge yearly surge (even outdoing official broadcasts recently), with even popular creators for whom Counter-Strike isn’t even a primary focus chipping in for various reasons (betting sponsors, broadcasting without delay, co-streaming as guests of the organizers).

As a result, more viewers from around the globe have been exposed to the high-quality shooting gameplay that only a title like CS can provide. Ergo, a lot more new fans have come on board, whatever their reasons (certain players, teams, etc).

Around a year after the first Major of the CS2 era, which did exceptionally well online but received mixed reactions offline, the game's competitive scene is as strong as Valve would have hoped when making such drastic changes at the end of 2023. The changes from the American tech giant and the various organizers have so far worked wonders for the game's viewership, and the upcoming BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 will be a great barometer for what will come in the second part of the season.