Esports World Cup 2024 for CoD: Warzone was the game's most watched tournament in 2024 — and the result could have been even better

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The Esports World Cup 2024 for Call of Duty: Warzone concluded on July 6th in Riyadh, with Team Falcons emerging as the champions, led by American players Shifty, Biffle, and Hisoka. This event garnered the highest viewership in the game for 2024, second only to the previous year's World Series of Warzone 2023 Global Finals. However, the audience reach could have been greater if as many community casters were present at the event in Saudi Arabia as at previous top-tier tournaments.

Team Falcons earned $200,000 for clinching first place from the tournament's $1 million prize pool. More importantly, their victory secured their club 1000 rating points towards the Club Championship standings. As a result of their performance in the Call of Duty: Warzone tournament, Team Falcons now leads among clubs and is currently the frontrunner for the $7 million prize.

Real also: Esports World Cup 2024: Who's the favorite in the $20 million Club Championship race?

The Esports World Cup 2024 for Call of Duty: Warzone featured 21 teams, initially inviting renowned mixes that had previously competed in events like the World Series of Warzone and other top tournaments. There were no qualifications; teams received direct invitations. Many of these mixes were later signed by major esports organizations such as Team Falcons, Natus Vincere, Team Vitality, Cloud9, and others.

The recent Esports World Cup 2024 championship for Warzone accumulated 1.4 million Hours Watched, making it the most-watched tournament of the game in 2024 by this metric. The peak viewership reached 135,200 concurrent viewers, the second highest of the year after the eFuse Shatter Gauntlet (136,200 PV). Notably, the eFuse Shatter Gauntlet was broadcasted on more channels (155 compared to 96), featuring popular streamers such as Aydan, DrDisRespect, and official Call of Duty channels.

The Esports World Cup 2024 achieved decent viewership numbers but fell significantly short in audience reach compared to the highly popular World Series of Warzone 2023 Global Finals. There are several reasons for this disparity. Firstly, Esports World Cup 2024 did not benefit from airing on the official Call of Duty channels, which traditionally draw the largest audiences for the discipline.

Secondly, there was a notable discrepancy in the number of unique broadcasting channels utilized between the tournaments: 251 for WSOW versus 96 for EWC. Moreover, the event in Riyadh featured fewer prominent participants and community casters.

Warzone is immensely popular among streamers, and their broadcasts draw large audiences to tournaments in this game. This concept is at the core of battle royale games, watching matches through the perspectives of top streamers, and sharing in their highs and lows. The community casting format of WSOW was designed around this principle, with more participants than EWC who also streamed their matches on personal channels.

During the Esports World Cup 2024 for Warzone, players did not engage in co-casting the event. For example, Biffle, who won both WSOW and EWC, could have significantly influenced the tournament's viewership statistics. His first WSOW victory peaked at over 17K concurrent viewers. Similarly, Aydan, whose streams typically attract 5-7K Peak Viewers, sometimes more, could also have positively impacted EWC's metrics.

The most watched Warzone tournaments in 2023/2024

The Esports World Cup 2024 series will run until August 25th, featuring a total of 22 tournaments across different disciplines. The overall prize pool for EWC 2024 totals $60 million, with $20 million designated for the EWC Club Championship.