The International 2025 becomes the most co-streamed TI: How watch parties shape viewership

Loading

The International 2025, which concluded last week, crowned a new champion and saw a significant increase in viewership compared to the previous two tournaments. A major factor behind this growth is the expanding coverage, with more co-casters than ever joining in. So, just how much do watch parties impact TI, and which streamers helped drive its impressive performance? Let’s dive in.

Read also: Team Falcons lift The International 2025 trophy as viewership grows for second year in a row

As with most Tier‑1 games, Dota 2 has long embraced co-streaming, with its esports viewership heavily influenced by independent influencers and studios outside the official organizers. This year, TI 2025 set a new benchmark, with co-casts accounting for nearly 49% of the tournament’s total watch time.

Note: Our data excludes viewership from Chinese livestreaming platforms, as they do not publicly release live viewer numbers and rely on alternative audience metrics. Learn more.

Although co-streaming hit a record share at TI 2025, the overall trend has remained relatively stable, ranging from 34-44% over the past six tournaments. In absolute numbers, TI 2019 remains the leader, with 39.2M Hours Watched via independent streamers, compared to 30.7M in 2025.

With co-streaming on the rise, viewership on The International’s main official channels has naturally declined over the years. Looking at the four primary Twitch channels — English, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese — each hit peak Hours Watched during the record-breaking TI 2021 (TI10). By 2025, their viewership had fallen dramatically, ranging from a 54% drop for the English channel to 86% for the Chinese channel.

So who drew the biggest esports audiences during TI? Over the past six tournaments, three standout streamers emerged, all former pros with deep Dota expertise:

• Aleksandr "Nix" Levin.

• Yaroslav "NS" Kuznetsov.

• Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski.

Their streams often feature current and former players, and paired with a relaxed, welcoming vibe, they managed to capture a large share of two core TI demographics: English- (Gorgc) and Russian-speaking viewers (Nix and NS).

While the top three streamers clearly lead the pack, two Southeast Asian creators weren’t far behind: Julius “Julz” De Leon, aka KuyaNic, who covers TI and other Dota 2 events for the Filipino audience, and Thailand’s LightFuryLF. Notably, KuyaNic had long been seen as a TI co-caster, but in the latest event held official status for the Philippine broadcast — much like Alexandre “Gaules” Borba usually does in Counter-Strike.

At the most recent tournament, Nix stood out as the top co-caster, drawing over 10M Hours Watched, roughly 16% of the tournament’s total. Key insights from the rankings include:

• Kick co-streamers cracked the top 10, with the platform accounting for 5% of total viewership, its best performance since launch.

• Nine of the top ten co-casters are current or former esports pros, highlighting how deep game knowledge drives audience relevance.

• Tenth place went to Ukrainian streamer and ex-pro Andrii "Ghostik" Kadyk, who now broadcasts exclusively in Ukrainian, having switched from Russian after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

TI 2025 shows that co-streaming is no longer a peripheral trend: it has become a central driver of audience engagement. The tournament’s record share of independent viewership demonstrates how expert hosts, regional representation, and platform diversity reshape how fans experience esports, highlighting that understanding the community’s cultural and linguistic nuances is just as important as the competition itself.