IEM Sydney 2023 becomes the most popular esports tournament in Australia and Oceania

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IEM Sydney 2023, the first international Counter-Strike 2 tournament, ended on October 22. After a few years' hiatus, tier-S competitive esports finally returned to Australia and immediately set a record for concurrent viewership in the entire Oceania region.

IEM Sydney 2023 delighted viewers with unpredictable results, as the transition to the new version of Counter-Strike essentially leveled the playing field for tournament participants. This was partially influenced by the fact that some teams in Sydney played with suboptimal lineups. For example, Natus Vincere competed in the tournament without its leader, s1mple. Player substitutions were also made by Apeks, MOUZ, and GamerLegion, while BetBoom Team and Team Vitality signed new coaches on the eve of the tournament. To some extent, IEM Sydney 2023 served as a training ground where teams could test their abilities in the new discipline for the first time.

The main surprise of IEM Sydney 2023 was the early elimination of Team Vitality. The best team in the world, according to HLTV.org, lost its first two matches in the Group Stage and left the tournament early. It was the first tournament for the team without their former coach zonic, who joined Team Falcons in October.

Six teams reached the final stage of the event: ENCE, FaZe Clan, Complexity Gaming, G2 Esports, BetBoom Team, and MOUZ. In the decisive match, FaZe Clan defeated Complexity Gaming with a score of 2:1 and earned $100,000 along with a spot at IEM Katowice 2024. Interestingly, just before the final, the agency GameSquare — which also owns Complexity Gaming — acquired the esports organization FaZe Clan.

IEM Sydney 2023 viewership results

The IEM Sydney 2023 matches took place from October 16 to October 22. The event accumulated 6.7 million Hours Watched and drew 134.7K Average Viewers. The Grand Final between FaZe and Complexity, which attracted 463K PV, became the most popular match of the tournament.

FaZe Clan emerged as the leader in terms of Hours Watched and Average Viewers. This happened partly thanks to the fact that the team played more matches than other participants (as it advanced through the lower bracket in the Group Stage). Interestingly, Natus Vincere became the second team in terms of Average Viewers, even though it didn't make it to the Playoffs stage.

The IEM Sydney 2023 matches were broadcast in over twenty languages and on four different platforms. In total, the streams were available on 90+ unique channels, including official ESL channels and community caster streams. The latter ones include popular content creators such as ohnepixel, olofmeister, stewie2k, ale_apoka, and others.

Comparison of IEM Sydney 2023 with other tournaments

The most popular esports tournaments in Australia and Oceania

Oceania has never been a center of esports, although local tournaments have always had a fantastic atmosphere, and Australian fans are considered some of the most active and passionate. The last major esports tournament took place in Australia before the coronavirus pandemic, and it is evident that the local audience has greatly missed such events.

IEM Sydney 2023 gathered 463K Peak Viewers, becoming the most popular tournament in the Oceania region. The previous best result belonged to IEM Sydney 2018, which attracted 278K PV five years ago.

In the past, Australia and Oceania have hosted numerous esports tournaments, but the IEM and DreamHack events attracted the most viewers. FIFA, Hearthstone, Fortnite, and World of Warcraft events also had a slightly smaller audience. Overall, Oceania more often served as a region for qualifying for international tournaments rather than as a hosting region for international competitions.

Looking specifically at Counter-Strike, IEM Sydney 2023 ranks ninth in terms of viewership among all tournaments in 2023. Its neighbors in the ranking are BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023 (494K PV) and Gamers8 2023 (429K PV). In the context of the Intel Extreme Masters series, the Sydney tournament made it into the Top 5 events of the year, surpassing IEM Dallas 2023.

In the first months after the release of Counter-Strike 2, the esports scene of the game will be rich in tournaments. In November, the Hussar Cup 2023 will take place in Poland, while simultaneously, the CS2 Asia Championships 2023 will be held in China: the total prize pool of these tournaments exceeds one million dollars. There will also be significant online tournaments, such as the Thunderpick World Championship 2023 and Roobet Cup 2023.