Most popular esports events — July 2023

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July was filled with esports events, with many spilling over from June, so there was no shortage of action for fans and pundits. With tournaments happening across the globe, from South America to Africa to Asia, viewers were busy witnessing the best e-athletes that each discipline had to offer duke it out for the ultimate glory.

With that in mind, it only made sense to collate a list of the most popular esports events across the board, and the results make for some fascinating reading. Usually understated disciplines like Arena of Valor and Apex Legends exploded to life, although there was a familiar look to the top fives listed below.

  Five most popular esports competitions across July 2023   

As has been its won't throughout the year, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang topped the list of most popular esports tournaments last month via the MPL Indonesia Season 12. It hit 2M Peak Viewers on July 29 during the Week 2 Day 3 Regular Season clash between Rex Regum Qeon and EVOS Legends — two of the most successful and popular sides not only in the country but worldwide — which the former won 2:1.

Another game with a significant market in Asia, Arena of Valor, is second thanks to the highly-successful Arena of Valor Premier League 2023. The mid-season major for the 2023 season set several records and became the most popular tournament in the discipline's history while setting several platform records.

Coming in third is the Snapdragon Pro Series Season 3 SEA - Challenge Finals, another MLBB competition that pitted the best sides from Southeast Asia against each other. It concludes as the most watched and popular event in the series that also has eight other games under this franchise name.

Next is the Riyadh Masters 2023, a more popular event than all three Dota 2 majors held this year. It was essentially this year's most successful event in the discipline, surpassing some previous tournaments from The International series. What helped was that this tournament more or less served as the final rehearsal ahead of the world championship to be held at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle from October 14 to October 29.

Last but not least is the ALGS: 2023 Split 2 Playoffs, which reminded people of the pulling power of Apex Legends when the circumstances are right. It became the second-most-watched competition in the discipline’s history, accumulating around 1M more Hours Watched than its 2022 iteration.

  Most popular esports competitions among English-speaking viewers last month   

When discussing English audiences only, there will naturally be a saturation of events from the West, with those from Asia falling far behind. That is the case for July as well, with the ALGS: 2023 Split 2 Playoffs coming out as the numero uno entry on this list, with its second largest language remaining Japanese, where the game enjoys a loyal following.

Second is the VCT 2023: Americas Last Chance Qualifier, which literally served as the final opportunity for teams to qualify for the coveted VCT Champions that will be held at the Shrine Expo Hall (Group Stage + Playoffs) and the Kia Forum (Top 4) in Los Angeles from August 6 to August 26. It even had a surprise winner in KRU Esports, who went all the way despite going winless in the Regular Season of the VCT Americas 2023 and then clinching the LCQ without losing a series.

Rounding off the podium is the ongoing IEM Cologne 2023, which got off to a stronger start than last year. There were new rosters for many organizations post the summer reshuffle, so fans were excited to see their favorite sides in action, while FalleN's switch from one Brazilian side to another made all the news ahead of and during the initial stages of this CS:GO competition.

Next is the BLAST Premier Fall 2023, which was also a beneficiary of the new rosters that lined up after the summer break, especially for star teams like NAVI, the most popular side in this competition. All this helped it take up the fourth spot on the list of most-watched CS:GO tournaments this year.

Finishing this list is the RLCS 2022-23 - Spring Split Major, whose success reaffirmed one thing — that Rocket League majors have been gathering more and more viewers this year. Thanks to popular community casters like Kamet0 and Moist Cr1tiKaL, who are bringing in new audiences to these events, interest in the discipline has been rapidly growing.

Coming to the most popular esports competitions among French audiences, there were two Valorant and League of Legends entries each, with the other name being quite the surprising one. However, what can be ascertained is the level of support teams that are owned by streamers and celebrities tend to get, no matter the level of the event.

One French team, in particular, has been getting some amazing support and coverage from fans and media thanks to the fame of its owner. It helps that many of these sides end up being pretty successful and build name value not only for their off-field functioning but also for the success they find. Moreover, and as an extension of the previous point, community casting plays a vital role in bringing in more audiences to these competitions, which has helped make France one of the premier spots for esports in Europe and the world.

  Most popular esports channels on Twitch across July 2023  

Reflecting the above stats, the top five on the list of most popular Twitch esports channels consist of ones from prominent events from Dota 2, CS:GO, and Valorant. Interestingly, only a single official studio broadcast made it to the standings, reflecting the growing importance of community casting for esports events on major platforms like Twitch.

Names like tarik, gotaga, and gaules are regulars on such standings, with streams of their respective disciplines and/or teams constantly attracting millions of viewers. However, props must be given to dota2_paragon_ru, whose constant coverage of the Riyadh Masters 2023 got him to the top spot here, even ahead of the official channel of Gamers8.