ESL Pro League Season 19 sees increased viewer engagement compared to previous season

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The grueling group stage of ESL Pro League Season 19 concluded in Saint Julian's, Malta. This marks the first event of the premier Counter-Strike series to use the MR13 system instead of the previously utilized MR16. Statistics show that the new season attracted significantly more live viewers to EPL.

Following the group stage, which took place from April 23rd to May 5th, sixteen participants have advanced to the playoffs. MOUZ, Complexity, Astralis, and Team Vitality were the top performers in their respective groups, securing spots in the quarterfinals. Natus Vincere and Team Liquid, along with dark horse teams 3DMAX and TheMongolZ, will kick off the playoffs from the Round of 12. Eight more teams, including Virtus.pro, G2 Esports, FaZe Clan, and Monte, will also start their playoff journey from the Round of 16.

Typically, group stage matches of ESL Pro League don't attract the same audience as playoff games, even when renowned teams are involved — and this trend continued this time around. Nine matches peaked at over 200,000 concurrent viewers, with the most popular being the series between FURIA and Monte, which determined the final playoff spot. The Ukrainian team emerged victorious in a nail-biting showdown, with over 290,000 peak viewers tuning in to watch the game.

As always, viewers were excited about G2 Esports' performance, and one of the group stage highlights was their clash with the lesser-known team M80. The American team unexpectedly defeated G2 in the mid bracket but then lost to Niko's lineup in the lower bracket final. Unfortunately, the Cinderella story didn't come to fruition, but fans were barely disappointed.

While the most popular matches of the group stage took place in groups B and C, it was the matches in group A that accumulated the highest watch time in total (and at the same time Group A’s most popular series had fewer viewers than top games in other groups). 

It's important to note that multiple matches are typically played simultaneously during the group stages of the ESL Pro League: this often negatively impacts the viewership statistics for certain series. There were several games that didn't even reach 20,000 Peak Viewers, and the series between BOSS and FlyQuest gathered only 6,800 concurrent spectators: a staggering 42 times less than the most popular game of the group stage.

Despite certain matches and teams facing challenges in attracting viewers, the tournament as a whole showcased impressive viewership statistics. The transition to the MR13 system led to considerably shorter series, resulting in a 42% reduction in total broadcast time for the group stage of Season 19 compared to Season 18 (with the same number of matches). However, the total watch time of the groups decreased by only 21%, indicating a less drastic reduction.

Naturally, the viewing time decreased, but perhaps this shouldn't concern organizers—after all, the average concurrent audience of the event increased to 136,400 concurrent viewers, a 36% growth compared to the previous season. Similarly, peak viewership also saw a significant increase.

ESL Pro League Season 19 is definitely showing promising viewership trends so far. The championship will continue tomorrow, and notably, some matches will run concurrently until the quarterfinals. It will be intriguing to see how this will impact the statistics of certain series.