RLCS 2025 - Raleigh Major attracts fewer Peak Viewers than qualifying event
The latest top-tier Rocket League Championship Series event wrapped up on Sunday at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh. Despite its scale, the Major fell short of the year’s first event in terms of viewership, partly due to the early exits of teams from the league’s most popular market. One of its qualifiers even outperformed the main event in peak concurrent viewers.
The RLCS 2025 - Raleigh Major brought together the 16 best teams from around the world in America to battle for one of the season's top trophies. It had a prize pool of $351,000 and RLCS Circuit Ranking Points at stake, with the latter helping determine which teams would qualify for the season-ending world championship.
After four days of action, Team Falcons emerged as the victor, easing past Team Dignitas 4:1 in the Grand Final to claim its biggest win to date. The Saudi Arabian esports organization walked away with $102,000 in prize money, while their European rivals earned $51,000 as runners-up.
Interestingly, there was one game at the RLCS 2025 - Raleigh Major that was more popular than the summit clash. The Playoffs Semifinals encounter between Team Dignitas and Team Vitality reached 218,697 Peak Viewers (PV). The official RLCS English channel on YouTube saw a jump in audience reach as English viewers tuned in to see how Team Dignitas, an American esports organization, was faring.
Fan-favorites Karmine Corp and Gentle Mates Alpine exiting at the first hurdle in the knockouts meant that the crucial French viewership saw a big hit. Nevertheless, local fans still tuned in to see if its last remaining representative, Team Vitality, could bring the title home. Unfortunately, the side's loss in the Semifinals snuffed out any hopes of a popular win.
Compared to the RLCS 2025 Birmingham Major, the Raleigh Major saw dips in all major viewership metrics. As already mentioned, the lack of either Karmine Corp or Gentle Mates Alpine in the Grand Final, the worst possible scenario for the organizers, ended up being the case, which robbed the North American event of its most important audience in its most important match.
The RLCS 2025 - Raleigh Major: EU Open 4 touched a higher audience peak than the Major itself. Unsurprisingly, it was won by Karmine Corp, co-owned by star French streamer Kamel "Kamet0" Kebir, with the side's match against Gentle Mates Alpine (co-owned by Corentin "Gotaga" Houssein) in the Playoffs Semifinals generating high excitement among fans.
One positive from the lack of French engagement in this S-Tier Rocket League tournament was the rise in the number of English and Arabic viewers. Both languages enjoyed increases in their PV figures, thanks to being able to support a representative each in the summit clash.
The RLCS 2025 - Raleigh Major did end among the ten most-watched competitions in the game, but its dependence on French teams once again came to the fore. Anytime either Karmine Corp or Gentle Mates Alpine does not fare well, it affects the viewership numbers of that Rocket League esports.
The focus for the Rocket League fans now shifts to the lucrative Esports World Cup 2025, which begins on August 14. This S-Tier event will see 16 sides battle for a substantial prize pool of $1 million, and Esports Charts will provide viewership updates throughout the multi-game series.
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