ESL One Birmingham 2024 qualifiers reach more viewers than ESL One Kuala Lumpur qualifier events

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The last matches of the closed regional qualifiers for ESL One Birmingham 2024 in Dota 2 concluded at the end of January. The qualifiers took place in seven regions and drew tens of thousands of viewers to the broadcasts. The qualification in Western Europe boasted the highest viewership numbers, whereas North America had the least active audience participation.

Qualifiers determined eight more participants for the main tournament in Birmingham. They will join Gaimin Gladiators, Xtreme Gaming, BetBoom Team, and Team Liquid, who were directly invited by the organizers.

Western Europe

Several top teams, including OG, Tundra Esports, and Team Secret, competed in the qualifiers for Western Europe. However, the latter failed to make it even to the top 3, which came as an unpleasant surprise to Secret fans. The most popular match of the qualifiers was the final series between Tundra Esports and OG, which drew 157.2K Peak Viewers. 

The Western European qualifiers were actively covered in English and Russian. The largest audience was on the official studio broadcasts. Additionally, matches were also covered by popular community casters such as Gorgc, just_ns, qojqva, and others.

MENA

The qualifiers in the MENA region ranked second in terms of peak viewership. More than 87.3K PV watched the match between Nigma Galaxy and Winter Bear on the first game day. This series proved to be even more popular than the grand final between Nigma and PSG Quest.

Compared to the qualifiers for ESL One Kuala Lumpur, the number of viewers in the MENA region increased significantly. While the peak viewership doubled, the average number of viewers tripled, from 8K to 24K AVG. The main driving force behind this growth was the participation of Nigma Galaxy: Previously, KuroKy's team did not compete in the MENA qualifiers.

China

The Chinese closed qualifiers for ESL One Birmingham 2024 had an unexpectedly good result in terms of audience reach. For example, among all the qualifiers for ESL One Kuala Lumpur, the Chinese region was the least popular. This time, the number of viewers for the Chinese qualifiers grew and even matched those of Eastern Europe. 

ESL One Birmingham 2024: China Closed Qualifier reached 80.8K PV, this many people came to watch the grand final between Azure Ray and G2.iG. However, other series was much less popular, with an average viewership of just 14.2K concurrent viewers. The collaboration between G2 and iG likely helped the Chinese region get more attention from Western viewers, but the latter are only willing to watch key matches of a particular team rather than the entire qualification.

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe qualifier was also able to increase peak viewership compared to ESL One Kuala Lumpur but failed to make it into the top 3 among all other qualifiers in terms of this indicator. Russian streamer Nix, the most popular community caster in Dota 2, covered only 25 minutes of the matches, so his broadcast had almost no effect on the overall viewership statistics.

The most popular match at ESL One Birmingham 2024: Eastern Europe Closed Qualifier was the derby between Team Spirit and Virtus.pro, reaching over 76.6K Peak Viewers. Interestingly, English-language broadcasts in the region attracted half as many viewers as the Chinese qualifiers.

Other regions

The peak viewership in Southeast Asia decreased significantly (from 96.4K to 67.6K). The average number of viewers also fell slightly, but not so much: by this indicator, SEA retained the second position among all qualifications.

South America showed growth in both the average and peak viewers at broadcasts: compared to ESL One Kuala Lumpur, these figures increased by 82% and 40% respectively. South America was the only region where the most popular language was Spanish.

North America became the least popular region among all ESL One Birmingham 2024 qualifiers. Compared to the previous tournament, its peak and average viewership on broadcasts remained almost unchanged. 

The ESL One Birmingham 2024 will be held from April 22 to 28 at the Resorts World Arena. The prize fund of the tournament amounted to one million dollars.