IEM Rio 2024 hits more viewers at the start than last year as prominent sides return
The IEM Rio 2024 began on October 7 at the Farmasi Arena in the capital of Rio de Janeiro, with 16 teams — including four of the five top teams in the world — battling it out. With the world's best sides present, fans will see the likes of NAVI, G2 Esports, MOUZ, and FURIA Esports in action, with the winner clinching a spot at the IEM Katowice 2025.
With so many star teams battling it out and the previous iteration, IEM Rio 2023, putting up some solid numbers, this year's event is expected to attract a healthy number of viewers. It is also part of the Intel Grand Slam Season 5, meaning most of the big sides still have a chance to win the coveted purse of $1 million, with the names mentioned above looking to get closer to completing the required four tournament wins heading into Rio.
The first day of the IEM Rio 2024 — which carries an overall prize pool of $250,000 — got off to a strong start, outdoing last year's opening day as most of the big teams won their games. It hit 386.2K Peak Viewers on Day 1, a 6.5% rise from the 2023 edition, and saw improvements of 3.7% and 8% in the Hours Watched and Average Viewers figures, respectively, setting up the rest of the event well.
What led fans to arrive in droves to watch the first day of action was the participation of all teams in best-of-one matches. They were not left disappointed, as the likes of Natus Vincere, MOUZ, and Team Vitality won their games to advance to the Upper Bracket Semifinals.
There was also an early shock as the highly-fancied G2 Esports lost its opener 10:13 to Heroic, meaning it will have to do battle in the lower bracket to qualify for the Playoffs. This was also the most popular match on Day 1 of this Counter-Strike tournament, with no other game crossing the 300K PV barrier.
G2 Esports played a part in helping the 2024 iteration outdo last year's opening-day numbers as, alongside paiN Gaming and Team Liquid, it was absent from the IEM Rio 2023. Their returns put them among the most-watched teams on Day 1, with no opening-day game from the previous edition coming close to touching 300K PV.
Moreover, the number of channels covering this competition increased, helping all three metrics improve slightly. Gaules continued to be the top streamer as he multi-streamed the games on Twitch and YouTube, but it was Russian CS creator bysl4m who emerged as the surprise package, with his multi-streams on the same two services attracting over 200K HW on Day 1.
There is still a long way to go for this Counter-Strike event, with the Group Stage running till October 9. With matches like Team Liquid versus FaZe Clan and Eternal Fire versus G2 Esports in the offing, this tournament has the potential to outperform its 2023 predecessor and end as one of 2024's most successful tournaments.
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