ESL Impact League Season 4 surges into Top 5 most popular women's Counter-Strike tournaments

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The ESL Impact League Season 4 concluded on December 10 at the Feria Valencia convention center in Valencia, Spain, with Nigma Galaxy Female emerging as the champion. It ended as one of the most successful events in the series and was another feather in the cap of a rising female division in the discipline's esports scene.

In the Grand Final of the Playoffs, Nigma Galaxy Female eased past NAVI Javelins 2:0 to take home $50,000. The runner-up pocketed $25,000 out of a total prize pool of $123,000, while the teams in the third-fourth bracket — Fluxo Demons and 9Pandas Fearless — got richer by $13,000.

  Basic statistics and most popular games from the ESL Impact League Season 4   

The ESL Impact League Season 4 recorded 31.9 Peak Viewers during the Group Stage, Day 2 clash between NAVI Javelins and FURIA Female. It was the decider match for who would get out of Pool B as the runner-up behind 9Pandas Fearless. With two highly followed teams — NAVI and FURIA — battling it out, there was substantial interest among fans to see who would prevail, and it was the European side that won 2:1 to advance to the Playoffs.

Interestingly, only one match from the Knockouts made the list of five most popular matches — the summit clash. With only three matches in this phase, viewers were more interested in seeing who would do well in the pool stage, helping this event also register 239K Hours Watched and 7.9K Average Viewers over 30 hours of airtime.

There won't be any surprises as to which teams were the most popular at this CS2 tournament. Considering the region they represent and the sheer number of fans there for the discipline and its esports scene, any side that participates at any level enjoys a massive following.

This was also backed up by the fact that the same region's language topped the watch time rankings by grabbing almost two-thirds of the chart. There was a higher level of dominance when looking at platforms, with Twitch taking up almost the entire hours watched count.

Gaules ended as the most successful content creator to stream the ESL Impact League Season 4, topping the watch time and popularity tables. A special mention must also go to csgomc_ua, a reflection of Ukraine and its teams' rising stature in the Counter-Strike esports scene thanks to content that 'goes beyond the scope of ordinary broadcasts.'

  The most popular female Counter-Strike 2 tournaments so far   

The ESL Impact League Season 4 has become the third-most watched and fourth-most popular competition in the series. It has also become the fifth most successful female CS2 tournament ever, with the top two coming from this very series.

The presence of some popular sides, leading to someone like Gaules taking charge of the live broadcasting segment, has played a big part in this event doing so well. Moreover, it continued a general trend of female esports in the discipline getting more attention and match time, leading to more solid action for fans to witness across the year.

The addition, and growth, of a full-fledged qualifier system has also helped streamline this series better and bring it more eyeballs. Unsurprisingly, the South American Division was the best-performing league among the four, while North America and Europe had similar numbers.

It has been a season of change for Counter-Strike, with an emotional goodbye waved to the beloved CS:GO and the welcoming of CS2. That has also meant lots of upheaval within the teams across the men's and women’s segments, but 2023 has been a solid year for the latter. Valve and ESL will do well to build on this improvement and continue their momentum in the new year.