The most popular tournaments in September 2021: Valorant ahead of CS:GO

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The most important esports tournaments of the fall will be held in October, but in September there were also many major competitions in the most popular disciplines. MPL Indonesia Season 8 became the top event for the second month in a row, and the Valorant Masters series tournament overtook the 14th ESL Pro League CS:GO season in viewers. Let's find out what other championships were most popular with viewers.

As in August, the most watched of all esports tournaments was MPL ID Season 8. Indonesian team Rex Regnum Qeon Hoshi is highly popular among the viewers as the games of this team regularly gather over a million concurrent viewers. In September, the most popular match was the game against the team's compatriots from Alter Ego: more than 1.17 million people watched it.

MPL Philippines Season 8, which has its own leader Nexplay EVOS, is also in the top 5 tournaments. In September, the team's game with Omega PH Esports was simultaneously watched by more than 569,000 people. It should be noted that both regional ML:BB leagues will continue until the end of October and will most likely be at the top of the current month's results.

The rivalry between Valorant and CS:GO continues to gain momentum. In September, the Riot Games shooter outperformed its rival from Valve on the esports field. VCT 2021: Stage 3 Masters Berlin was ahead of ESL Pro League Season 14 in terms of Peak Viewers by almost 53,000 people (811,300 vs. 758,500). It should be noted that Valorant Masters was the most popular among the English-speaking audience, while EPL achieved these numbers mainly due to viewers from the CIS.

Most English-speaking esports viewers in September watched Valorant Masters with a Peak Viewers number of 488,000 people. The rivalry between Sentinels and G2 Esports was of particular interest to the viewers, as the teams (especially G2) originally enhanced interest in the face-to-face match.

Also read: VCT 2021 Stage 3 Masters Berlin viewers statistics

EPL S14 gathered 185,000 fewer concurrent English-speaking viewers than Berlin Masters. The peak was reached during the grand final of the tournament, where Natus Vincere defeated Team Vitality in a grindy game.

It is noteworthy that ESL Pro League was a bit closer to Zlaner Certified Banger's Call of Duty: Warzone tournament than to Valorant Masters Berlin in popularity among English-speaking viewers. The Warzone tournament with top English-speaking streamers (including DrDisRespect and TimTheTatman) was simultaneously watched by up to 220K people.

The Chinese and Korean LoL leagues, where the decisive matches before Worlds 2021 took place, were also in the top 5. At the same time, LPL beat LCK: 188,9K vs. 163,1K concurrent viewers.

The preferences of the Russian-speaking audience remain the same: the top tournaments are, as always, CS:GO and Dota 2. At the same time, the first three places were taken by the Counter-Strike championships, and it is all thanks to discipline’s most popular team Natus Vincere: its matches at the last RMR tournament (IEM Season XVI) and the BLAST Premier Fall 2021 group stage were simultaneously watched by up to 90,8K and 93,7K people respectively.

In the absence of the majors and TI, the interest in Dota 2 is fading quite a lot among viewers from the CIS. In September, the Russian-speaking Dota 2 audience showed the greatest interest in the OGA Dota PIT Invitational, and the peak was reached during the match between Team Spirit and PSG.LGD with 77.5K peak viewers.

The leaders of Twitch in September were the esports channels that broadcasted ESL Pro League Season 14. The first place was taken by the Maincast’s main channel. Its broadcasts of the EPL Grand Final gathered over 313K concurrent viewers. The official English-language stream of the tournament was behind the Ukrainian studio by 13K concurrent viewers.

What's interesting is that otplol_ was one of the top 5 platforms of the month that broadcasted European Masters 2021 Summer, the second most important European League of Legends tournament after LEC. Karmine Corp's victory over Fnatic Rising in the grand final was watched by over 163,900 concurrent viewers. 

In October we can expect a lot more activity from the esports audience. This week we have the long-awaited League of Legends Worlds 2021 and Dota 2's The International 2021, and in a few weeks we have the first CS:GO Major event in a long time. We're expecting more viewership records from these events.