ESL One Raleigh 2025 and Dota 2’s return to North America reached over 300,000 viewers

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ESL One Raleigh 2025 kicked off on April 7 and quickly garnered enough viewership to become the most popular non-Valve Dota 2 tournament ever held in the United States of America. By the end of the tournament, the event had reached over 319,000 Peak Viewers (PV) for a semifinal, making it not only a landmark for North American Dota 2 but also one of the overall most popular events of early 2025.

Read also: ESL One Raleigh 2025 becomes most popular non-Valve Dota 2 event held in the US

The semifinal game between Tundra Esports and PARIVISION was the most popular game of the event, even eclipsing the grand final between Team Spirit and PARIVISION. These games were not only highly-watched through official channels, but also heavily co-streamed by creators speaking Russian, English, Spanish, and many other languages from around the globe. 

The co-streaming support for the ESL One Raleigh 2025 was crucial in the event breaking 9M Hours Watched. Although the North American event only spanned a week, co-streaming generated a significant portion of its overall watch time, accounting to almost 43% of the final result. 

While English-speaking viewers, both local and international, were interested in the event, Russian-speaking viewership was the biggest demographic for the tournament. This demographic was supported by many top creators co-streaming, with one even reaching over 50,000 concurrent viewers on his co-stream. 

Compared to other recent Dota 2 events, the ESL One Raleigh 2025 was one of the more popular events of the year. While the long-standing DreamLeague series took the top spot, North Americas’ return to Dota 2 was competitive in viewership with other top results for the year. 

  Most popular Dota 2 events of 2025 by peak viewers, as of April 14   

Dota 2’s esports scene has been evolving across the past few years, and now it's settling into its new ecosystem. Its regular offering of million-dollar events across the world has captured the attention of hundreds of thousands of Dota 2 fans and esports viewers. As part of the overall ESL Pro Tour, ESL One Raleigh 2025 is the prelude to the final event of Season 3, DreamLeague Season 26.

The DreamLeague’s 26th season will begin on May 19, continuing through until the beginning of June. With some top teams in attendance and another million dollars on the line, the tournament could well be the most popular event for H1 2025 in Dota 2. Keep an eye on the upcoming events for Dota 2 with our Upcoming Esports Events page.