Valorant Champions 2025 reaches new peak of 666K live viewers as first teams advance to playoffs

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Week two of the Valorant Champions 2025 group stage is underway, and the first teams advancing to the playoffs are now confirmed. The tournament also hit a new live viewership peak, surpassing last week’s numbers.

On September 17, the Winners Matches in Groups A and C delivered thrilling action. Pacific Stage 2 champions Paper Rex took on EMEA Stage 2 finalists GIANTX. After narrowly dropping the first map on Ascent, PRX bounced back to win Lotus and Sunset, securing the first playoff spot.

Read also: Valorant Champions 2025 week 1 recap: Viewership slows, YouTube gains ground

Later, Americas Stage 2 finalists NRG faced reigning world champions EDward Gaming. Despite a 2:0 win for NRG, the games were closely contested, with the opener going into overtime. This marks NRG’s first playoff appearance at the Champions in just their second event of the series.

The day’s opening match stole the show, setting a new tournament record with 666,177 concurrent viewers — a 23% increase over last week’s top game between T1 and Dragon Ranger Gaming.

By contrast, the second match lagged behind, both in comparison to the first and within the tournament’s overall rankings, attracting under 500,000 live viewers.

A closer look at the stats shows that the viewership spike was fueled by higher engagement across multiple demographics. English-language streams led the way with over 308,000 concurrent viewers, while Thai broadcasts contributed more than 45,000. Japanese audiences were active as well, though less so compared to the first and third match days.

With the tournament heating up and matches becoming more decisive, another viewership peak is expected soon. On September 18, Team Heretics faces T1, while MIBR takes on Fnatic. The matchup between the Brazilian and North American squads could attract a large influx of English and Portuguese-speaking viewers, likely driving the peak even higher.

Valorant Champions 2025 group stage runs until September 22, with elimination matches kicking off on September 25 and the Grand Final set for October 5. Follow Esports Charts for live updates and insights on the tournament’s viewership and key moments.