FNCS 2024 Global Championship set several records and became Fortnite's most popular tournament in five years

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Fortnite esports is experiencing a revival, with the recent FNCS 2024 Global Championship drawing over 809,800 Peak Viewers — one of the highest viewership results in the game's history. Such excitement around Fortnite tournaments has not been seen in the past five years.

The FNCS 2024 Global Championship was the culmination of the 18th competitive season of the Fortnite Champion Series. This tournament showcased the world’s top duos, who had earned their spots through regional qualifiers and major events. A total of 50 teams competed for a prize pool of $2 million.

The champions of the FNCS 2024 Global Championship were the duo Peterbot and Pollo from team Exceed. They delivered an exceptional performance, finishing more than 200 points ahead of their closest competitors in the overall standings. Peterbot and Pollo maintained a high level of excellence throughout the season, having won the last two majors in North America and outperforming all rivals in one of the most competitive regions in the game.

The FNCS 2024 Global Championship attracted over 809,800 PV, a 12% increase from last year’s World Championship and a new record for viewership in the series. This places FNCS 2024 among the top three most-watched Fortnite esports events, surpassed only by the Fortnite World Cup 2019 Finals and the Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am 2018, which featured celebrities from entertainment and sports.

The viewership for FNCS 2024 might have been even higher if it had received the same level of coverage from community casters as in previous years. Unfortunately, the number of unique streaming channels decreased by nearly a third. Notably, prominent streamers like Gotaga, TheGrefg, and Clix were absent from the coverage, though Clix did participate in the tournament this year, as he did last year.

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What led to the increase in viewership for the FNCS 2024 Global Championship? An analysis of the event’s performance by language and platform shows that the Average Viewers on YouTube doubled. Additionally, viewership on English-language streams also increased almost two times. While French-language streams experienced a notable decline in viewership due to the absence of Gotaga, there was a slight increase in viewers for Portuguese, Spanish, and German streams.

The FNCS 2024 Global Championship also set several new records:

• TikTok record for Fortnite tournaments: 30,731 PV;

• Vietnamese language record for Fortnite: 5,209 PV;

• Bulgarian language record for Fortnite: 1,913 PV;

• Serbian language record for Fortnite: 509 PV;

• Danish language record on YouTube in esports: 4,469 PV.

Notably, the official Fortnite channel on Twitch achieved one of its highest peak viewership numbers during FNCS 2024, matching the audience figures seen during the Fortnite World Cup 2019. On YouTube, the official Fortnite Competitive channel set a new record with 89,700 PV, representing a 62% increase over its previous milestone.

The FNCS 2024 Global Championship was organized by BLAST, a tournament operator renowned for hosting major international events across various esports titles. Last year, BLAST organized the BLAST.tv Paris Major for Counter-Strike, and in February, they managed the Six Invitational 2024 for Rainbow Six. This week, BLAST is also hosting the RLCS 2024 World Championship for Rocket League.

Most popular BLAST tournaments by Peak Viewers

As of now, the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 stands as the most popular tournament organized by BLAST, drawing over 1.52 million Peak Viewers. Another significant event was the BLAST Premier Fall 2021 Finals, which followed the Stockholm Major, a tournament that set a record with a peak viewership of 2.74 million. That year is often considered a high point for CS esports.

The FNCS 2024 Global Championship is not the only Fortnite tournament making headlines this year. Earlier in the year, FNCS 2024 - Major 1: Europe also attracted a large audience, reaching a peak viewership of around 739,500. This European major even surpassed last year’s World Championship in terms of viewership. Despite the Fortnite Champion Series having been around for a while, the series remains popular and continues to draw substantial audiences to its official broadcasts.