RLCS 2025 Birmingham Major ranks among the most popular non-World Championship events
The RLCS 2025 - Birmingham Major concluded with fan favourite side Karmine Corp emerging as the champion. The French side's dominant victory in front of a packed crowd was well-received, with The Ultimates' fairytale run helping it notch a milestone viewership. While the tournament itself didn’t set any new records, it still ranked among the most popular non-World Championship events in Rocket League history.
Karmine Corp met The Ultimates in the Grand Final of the first Major of the new season, easing to a 4:0 win. The event reached 290,867 Peak Viewers (PV), making it the most popular Rocket League match of the year and the losing finalists' top game by popularity.
Still relatively new to the Rocket League esports scene, Saudi Arabian esports organisation The Ultimates enjoyed its best result by far at the bp pulse LIVE Arena, National Exhibition Centre (NEC). The second-place finish in Birmingham also saw it reach new records for watch time and average peak online viewership for a single tournament.
For Karmine Corp, this was its first win in the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) in almost two years. Backed by coverage from star owner and Twitch megastar Kamel "kamet0" Kebir, the tournament winner was by far the most popular side at the first arena event of the year.
The French side's victory, aided by an unbeaten run, was crucial to this competition doing so well. This included wins over fellow event favourites like FURIA Esports, Team Falcons, and NRG Esports, aside from easing to two wins over The Ultimates.
Karmine Corp's importance was also reiterated by the fact that this is the third straight year it has been part of the most popular match at Rocket League tournaments (it will take something special for the streak to end this year, although lots of events remain). Moreover, its presence helps elevate other sides, especially emerging ones like The Ultimates, in terms of their audience reach.
Interestingly, the table of most popular matches included one 1v1 game between Axel "Mawkzy" Timone and FURIA Esports' Yan "yanxnz" Xisto Nolasco. With showmatches during such events continuing to attract high audience interest, the addition of 1v1 events to the RLCS calendar is bound to make things fun for viewers and attract more eyeballs as fans tune in to see their favourite content creators and professional gamers battle it out.
The RLCS 2025 - Birmingham Major also ended among the most popular events in the game by peak concurrent viewership. When looking at non-World Championship competitions, it finishes within the top five, with five of the top ten entries on the former table coming from the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
French channels and creators continue to be vital to the game's recent rise, which was evident in the United Kingdom as well. Kamet0 was the top streamer by watch time and peak concurrent viewership, while French also emerged as the most popular language at the RLCS 2025 - Birmingham Major.
To conclude, the performances of star French teams like Karmine Corp and Gentle Mates Alpine remain crucial to the viewership dynamics of Rocket Leagues events. Thanks to the former's dominant run, the first Major of the new year saw stable audience interest throughout.
Moreover, content creators like Kamet0 and Gentle Mates co-owner Corentin "Gotaga" Houssein have made French-language viewership the largest audience for RLCS events. The support this duo of popular content creators gives their teams more or less solely directs viewership at Karmine Corp and Gentle Mates Alpine. At this stage, it won’t be hyperbole to say that the displays of these two organisations go a long way in ensuring viewership success for tournaments.
Fans and organisers will nevertheless hope the emergence of names like The Ultimates could be what is needed to help the 2025 season continue the good work seen last year. This should also mean that English audiences will begin showing renewed interest after the language witnessed a decrease over the past few years.
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