IEM Chengdu 2024 becomes most popular Counter-Strike event held in China

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The Intel Extreme Masters Chengdu 2024 was held at the Wuliangye Chengdu Performing Arts Centre in Chengdu, China, from April 8 to 14. It was the series' first Counter-Strike event in the country in four years, with the final three days held in the above multi-purpose arena that can seat 12,000 people.

It ended as the fourth-most popular CS2 competition this year so far, doing better than the BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024. It was by far number-one by this metric among tournaments held in the title in the Asian country, boding well for the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, just the second-ever Major in the new game.

  Most popular games and basic statistics at the Intel Extreme Masters Chengdu 2024   

The Intel Extreme Masters Chengdu 2024 recorded 366.4K Peak Viewers during the Grand Final between MOUZ and FaZe Clan. The latter eased to a 2:0 win to continue its amazing run this year, with all its placings at S-Tier events not being outside the top two.

Both teams had three appearances on the most popular games list, showing just how much interest they generated among audiences. Moreover, one Group Srage match made this table, with the fifth spot occupied by the clash between MOUZ and FURIA Esports in a clash between heavyweight nations Germany and Brazil.

There is a surprise name that almost took the most popular team gong despite a not-so-stellar campaign. However, the combined might of these famous sides and FaZe's win helped the Intel Extreme Masters Chengdu 2024 register 7.6M Hours Watched and 151.3K Average Viewers over 51 hours of airtime.

The only major language to see a rise in this CS2 tournament compared to the IEM Sydney 2023 was Portuguese, thanks to the participation of FURIA. There was no Brazilian side in Australia, and knowing how its fans and streamers help with improving viewership stats, there was always going to be an upswing in the Chinese event.

Among other languages, English, Russian, and Ukrainian all saw falls in average viewership for different reasons. With renowned sides like Natus Vincere, Team Vitality, Complexity Gaming, M80, and Monte missing, a large chunk of the audience base has fewer reasons to catch the action live.

With three Chinese teams participating, interest in games involving them was relatively low as they have fewer fans in the Western world. Consequently, the overall number of channels covering the China event was also much smaller.

Speaking of channels, Gaules played a big part in the success of the IEM Chengdu 2024 by emerging as the most successful name. His Twitch handle was the most popular and second-most watched one, while his YouTube account finished in the top three on both counts, reinforcing his importance to the CS2 broadcasting scene globally.

  Most popular tournaments in the discipline held so far in 2024   

When looking at the tournaments held in the game this year, it ended as the fourth most popular one. The leader is the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, the first-ever Major in the new game and its third-most-popular event ever.

The IEM Chengdu 2024 also finished within the top five in terms of watch time for CS2 competitions so far this year. It was also the most popular tournament in the game held in China, with the previous record holder being the StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 7 which notched 243.5K PV.

  Most popular Counter-Strike competitions held in China   

It's been a strong start to the year for CS2 esports and with a lot of events still to come, readers can be assured of a few more records being broken. Chinese fans, too, don't have to wait for long for the next tournament and can show up in large numbers for the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 which will be held from December 1 to 15.