EWC x Rainbow Six 2024 results: third trophy for Team BDS and record viewership in Saudi Arabia

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Team BDS has once again triumphed at a Rainbow Six tournament in Saudi Arabia, capturing the championship title at the Esports World Cup 2024. This victory adds another prestigious trophy to their collection earned in the region. Held in Riyadh, the event set a new record for viewership, becoming the most popular Rainbow Six tournament ever hosted in Saudi Arabia and ranking among the top three most-watched tournaments in the title this year.

The Esports World Cup 2024 featured 16 teams from Brazil, North America, Europe, and Asia. The list of participants included top teams such as w7m esports, Team Liquid, FaZe Clan, and of course, Team BDS.

While Brazilian teams were seen as the favorites, Team BDS outperformed nearly all of them. The French squad made their intentions clear from the group stage by defeating w7m esports, the reigning Six Invitational 2024 champions. In the playoffs, Team BDS first overcame FaZe Clan, then FURIA, and in the final, they once again defeated w7m esports with a commanding 3-0 sweep. The only Brazilian team they did not face was Team Liquid, who were placed in a different part of the bracket.

This win at the Esports World Cup 2024 marks Team BDS’s third major success in Saudi Arabia, following their previous victories at the Gamers8 tournaments in 2022 and 2023.

The broadcasts of the Esports World Cup 2024 accumulated a total of 854,800 Hours Watched — nearly double the combined viewership of the previous two Rainbow Six Gamers8 tournaments.

On average, the EWC streams attracted 25,000 viewers, with peak viewership reaching over 67,800 during the grand final between Team BDS and w7m esports.

The main languages used for the tournament broadcasts were English and Portuguese, which together accounted for 92% of the total watch time — 61% in English and 31% in Portuguese. Initially, English broadcasts were more prominent during the group stage, but Portuguese viewership surged by approximately 10% during the playoffs. This increase was attributed to Gaules, a popular Brazilian Counter-Strike streamer, who began covering the matches. French broadcasts were the third most popular, making up only 4% of the total HW.

In terms of audience distribution across platforms, Twitch outpaced YouTube significantly, generating four times more Hours Watched. This highlights the steadfast preferences of Rainbow Six fans for Twitch.

The Esports World Cup 2024 surpassed the popularity of previous Rainbow Six tournaments in Riyadh. Compared to Gamers8 2023, the event saw a 73% increase in watch time, a 61% rise in average viewership, and a doubling of peak viewership. This boost is attributed to the tournament’s expanded scale, a higher number of top-tier participants, and a doubling of unique broadcast channels — from 22 to 44. Additionally, the previous year’s tournament had fewer YouTube streams and missed the presence of popular community casters such as Gaules and TimTheTatman. 

Esports World Cup and Gamers8 tournaments comparison

The Esports World Cup 2024 is currently the third most-watched Rainbow Six tournament of the year, following only the Six Invitational 2024 and the BLAST R6 Major Manchester 2024 in viewership.

The Esports World Cup 2024 series will run until August 25. It features 22 tournaments across 21 different disciplines, with a total prize pool of $60 million. Esports Charts has already published viewership statistics for the first four weeks of the series, which can be viewed here.