The International 2025 Qualifiers are over: viewership trends and slot holders

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As the countdown to The International 2025 begins, the world of Dota 2 has witnessed an intense battle for supremacy across the globe. The regional qualifiers have just wrapped up, unveiling the teams that will soon converge in Hamburg to compete for one of the most esports’ coveted crowns.

Which teams emerged as the stars of the qualifiers? How did the broadcasts perform in terms of viewership? And what trends are we seeing compared to last year? Esports Charts breaks it all down in this recap.

First, a quick reminder: as usual, the qualifiers for The International 2025 were held across six key regions — Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Southeast Asia, and, of course, China. While all the qualifiers followed a similar format using a double-elimination bracket, they varied slightly in the number of participating teams and available qualification spots. For more details, check out our previous article.

Southeast Asia Closed Qualifier

This year, the Southeast Asia qualifier topped all regions in peak viewership, attracting 169,400 concurrent viewers at its highest point. The most attention was focused on the final matches, where Talon Esports faced off against Team Nemesis and BOOM Esports with tickets to The International 2025 on the line. Unfortunately for Talon fans, the team fell short in both series and missed out on qualifying for the season’s biggest event.

Western Europe Closed Qualifier

The Western Europe qualifiers came out on top in total watch time and average viewership across all broadcasts. That said, both figures were slightly down compared to last year. Peak viewership hit 142,300, making it the second-highest among all regional qualifiers for The International 2025. The region’s two coveted spots went to NAVI Junior (who were promoted to Natus Vincere’s main roster shortly after) and Nigma Galaxy.

Eastern Europe Closed Qualifier

In Eastern Europe, Aurora Gaming was the clear favorite and secured their spot in the main tournament with relative ease. They led the qualifiers in average match viewership, and four of their series ranked among the top five most-watched games. The grand final between Aurora Gaming and the Cyber Goose peaked at 97,600 concurrent viewers — roughly 34% lower than last year’s regional qualifier peak.

South America Closed Qualifier

In South America, the rivalry traditionally centers around teams from Peru and Brazil. This time, however, these squads competed under the banners of European organizations. HEROIC’s lineup came out on top, clinching a qualification spot over OG.LATAM and Edge. The showdown with Edge was particularly intense; HEROIC lost to them in the winners’ final but bounced back to win in the grand final. The qualifier’s final match peaked at just over 93,000 viewers, edging out last year’s numbers.

China Closed Qualifier

China, long grappling with a serious talent shortage in its local Dota 2 scene, continues to draw viewers mainly through a few hype matchups. This time around, fans mostly tuned in to watch Xtreme Gaming and Yakult Brothers, while other series saw significantly less attention. The final between XG and YB peaked at 68,200 viewers, roughly matching last year’s qualifier numbers. It’ll be interesting to see what Xtreme Gaming can deliver at the showpiece tournament in Germany.

Interestingly, Russian was the primary broadcast language for the Chinese qualifier, generating the highest watch hours and edging out English streams by a narrow margin. This was largely thanks to Paragon Studio, which has built a solid Twitch following.

North America Closed Qualifier

North America continues to be the weakest region in the professional Dota 2 scene. The local qualifier for The International 2025 attracted just 37,400 viewers during the final match between Wildcard and Shopify Rebellion — about 38.9% lower than last year’s peak viewership for the qualifiers.

Looking at the top matches, there’s a clear gap in audience size between the grand final and the other series. This is largely due to a steep drop in average viewership, which now barely exceeds 12,000. The region remains stagnant, and its future looks increasingly uncertain. The challenging responsibility of representing the region at the upcoming tournament now rests with Wildcard.

Qualifiers trends

Peak viewership trends are a bit more complex since this metric largely depends on the matchups. Southeast Asia, South America, and China saw slight increases in their peak numbers, whereas the other regions experienced notable drops.

Looking at the average viewership during the qualifiers, the downward trend becomes even more apparent. Western Europe still leads but saw a 22.6% drop compared to last year. Eastern Europe experienced an even steeper decline of 25.5%. Southeast Asia also saw a decrease in viewers, though the drop was less severe.  

Western Europe remains the key region for Dota 2, but this qualifier’s viewer trends indicate that Eastern Europe is steadily losing ground and could soon be surpassed by Southeast Asia for second place. South America and China lag behind but maintain relative stability, while North America keeps sliding downward across nearly all viewership metrics year after year. 

Just a reminder: The International 2025 is scheduled for September 4–14 in Hamburg, Germany. The playoffs will be hosted at the renowned Barclays Arena. The total prize pool for the event is $1.6 million. Stay up to date with results and viewership stats on Esports Charts’ dedicated report page.

All participants of The International 2025