Marvel Rivals’ biggest tournament yet breaks viewership record by 150%

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Young as it is, Marvel Rivals esports has hit a new viewership milestone! This past weekend’s Marvel Rivals Invitational: North America #2 brought together the best rosters of the American scene, with some of the continent’s top streamers covering the event. As a result, the previous peak viewership record was shattered, soaring by an impressive 150%.

Out of all the tournament series in Marvel Rivals esports launched by publisher and developer NetEase, the Marvel Rivals Invitational stands apart for now. It regularly draws the highest average viewership (even beating out the Marvel Rivals Championship). It’s no surprise that the North American event sparked the most excitement: after all, this is where the game has the largest following.

Unlike the first edition, which only featured four teams, the second event in the series saw double the number of participants. Teams ranged from relatively new ones like Rad Esports to well-established names like 100 Thieves, Sentinels, and ENVY. There were also some unexpected entries, like Shroud-X, the new team of popular streamer Michael “shroud” Grzesiek. With a much more active co-casting effort than usual, it led to impressive viewership results.

The viewership results for the game were impressive. The event nearly hit 1.9 million Hours Watched (HW), setting a new record for the highest viewership across all competitive events (including streamer tournaments) in Marvel Rivals to date. 

This strong performance also was caused by a high Average Viewers count (45,000 concurrent viewers), a result driven by the active participation of co-streamers, many of whom covered the event from start to finish. Shroud, for example, continued to commentate on matches even after his own team was eliminated early.

Curious about detailed stats for this or any other tournament? Want to understand the viewer behavior at various points of the broadcast and see which teams and channels were the most popular? You can acquire all this and more with our Esports Event Dashboard!

The tournament saw steady growth in viewership from start to finish across each stage. However, the group stage outperformed the playoffs slightly. For instance, the peak of over 71,000 concurrent viewers came on the second day of play during a nail-biting match between Rad and ENVY. 

In the playoffs, viewer activity remained strong but with a bit less intensity. The grand final (and by far the most popular playoff match) between 100 Thieves and FlyQuest drew over 63,800 concurrent viewers, only slightly fewer than the top group stage games.

When it comes to the viewership on specific channels, the official game channels didn’t set any new records, maintaining the usual range of 5,000 to 15,000 viewers. The real game-changer, however, was the more active co-casting, which featured not just Shroud, but also former esports stars from Counter-Strike, Overwatch, and Valorant, such as Jay "sinatraa" Won, Matthew "super" DeLisi, Vladan "Necros" Konstantinov, and others.

Most popular & most watched Marvel Rivals esports events

Ultimately, while the previous record for peak concurrent viewership was increased by 150%, the watch time record saw an impressive 235% boost. If future tournaments in the series keep drawing top teams and receive the same level of active coverage from streamers, the game’s esports scene is definitely on track for success.

Read more: Marvel Rivals as esports: First steps and what comes next

To sum up, the second American tournament of the Invitational series, as expected, has become the most successful in the game's history. NetEase is steadily converting the game's popularity with casual livestream viewers into solid esports viewership, and the co-streamers, who proved their value at this event, are set to play a key role in helping the game take the next step toward becoming an even more competitive discipline in the industry.