IEM Cologne 2025 boosted its average viewership by an impressive 54% year over year

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Counter-Strike fans were glued to the action this past weekend as IEM Cologne 2025 delivered another round of thrilling matches and fresh records. The revamped rosters of Natus Vincere and Team Spirit delivered strong performances, while MOUZ finally ended Team Vitality’s winning streak — scoring a long-awaited revenge victory over the French squad. Esports Charts has all the details in its full tournament recap.

Several top teams overhauled their lineups during player break, making the German tournament the first real proving ground for these new rosters. Fresh faces appeared on teams like Natus Vincere, Team Spirit, Team Falcons, G2 Esports, Astralis, and more — so it’s no wonder that fans were eager to see how the revamped squads would perform.

One of the biggest surprises of the Play-In stage was B8 Esports’ underwhelming performance. The Ukrainian squad had looked promising at the Austin Major, but in Germany they couldn’t hold their own against Astralis and FlyQuest. 

makazze, NAVI newcomer make his debut on the big stage / Photo: ESL

The group stage was packed with drama. In Group A, Team Vitality and The MongolZ lived up to expectations with dominant performances, while FURIA Esports claimed the final playoff spot, knocking out both Team Falcons and G2 Esports. Over in Group B, Team Spirit and MOUZ led the pack, while the last playoff berth came down to a showdown between Natus Vincere and FaZe Clan with the Ukrainian team ultimately coming out on top.

The Playoffs delivered some of the most pivotal matchups of the tournament, especially the semifinals. After losing eight straight head-to-heads, MOUZ finally broke the curse and took down Team Vitality, eliminating the world’s top-ranked squad and tournament favorite. Vitality had dominated 2025 with seven straight tournament wins — but their championship streak finally came to an end at IEM Cologne.

The second semifinal saw Team Spirit and Natus Vincere clash in a high-octane shootout, trading map wins in a back-and-forth battle. Rookies Drin "makazze" Shaqiri and Ivan "zweih" Gogin held their own, but this time, Team Spirit came out on top.

Team Spirit defeat MOUZ in the Grand final / Photo: ESL

As for the grand final — it was far less dramatic. Team Spirit cruised past MOUZ with a dominant 3:0 sweep, notching their third tournament win of 2025. In a fun twist, MOUZ had knocked Team Spirit out of the BLAST.tv Austin Major earlier this year, so this dominant showing served as a satisfying bit of revenge for the Dragons.

IEM Cologne 2025 Viewership Statistics

IEM Cologne 2025 matches racked up more than 35.2 million total hours watched, making it the second most-watched Counter-Strike event of 2025, trailing only the Austin Major. Tournament drew an average of 428,500 viewers, with a peak concurrent audience hitting 1.13 million — surpassing last year’s event by 54% and 4.4%, respectively. Overall, it set a new record as the most-watched Intel Extreme Masters tournament held in Cologne, leading the series in both watch time and average viewership.

The number of active channels at IEM Cologne 2025 more than doubled compared to last year. English and Russian continued to dominate the broadcasts, but Russian’s share of total watch hours jumped from 19.1% to 26.6%, while English declined from 50% to 39.7%.

A new peak viewership record was set for the Mongolian-language broadcast, hitting 99,400 during the quarterfinal match between The MongolZ and Natus Vincere. The previous record was about 98,100 viewers during the Austin Major. Given Mongolia’s population of 3.5 million, roughly 2.8% of the entire country tuned in to watch their top Counter-Strike team in action.

When it comes to streaming platforms, YouTube is steadily closing the gap with Twitch in audience reach. Kick also made a notable impact, accounting for roughly 2.4% of viewership, a modest but meaningful milestone for the platform, largely thanks to Alexandre "Gaules" Borba Chiqueta's multistream.

Most popular Counter-Strike tournaments in 2025 so far

IEM Cologne 2025 ranked as the fourth biggest Counter-Strike tournament of 2025 by peak concurrent viewership. The top spot still belongs to the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, which drew a peak audience of 1.78 million live viewers.

Most watched and most popular IEM Cologne tournaments

Following the conclusion of IEM Cologne 2025, tournament organizers revealed that IEM Cologne 2026 will be an official Valve Major. The tournament’s final stage is set to run from June 18–22 at the iconic Lanxess Arena.