IEM Cologne 2023 kicks off with higher viewership across the board than last year

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IEM Cologne 2023 got underway on July 26 with the double-elimination bracket Play-In Stage that will end today. The first two days drew in significantly more viewers than last year's edition, which consisted of only two days of Play-Ins instead of three.

So far, MOUZ, Fnatic, Monte, and Astralis have made it through to the Group Stage, with the remaining four slots to be decided today. The matches include FURIA Esports taking on The MongolZ, Apeks facing OG, 9INE battling Team Liquid, and Ninjas in Pyjamas versus Imperial Esports in the lower bracket round 2.

Among the sides that have been knocked out are Into The Breach, Complexity, BIG, and Grayhound, with the German outfit's ouster perhaps being the biggest news. When all the qualifications are done, the Group Stage will commence on July 29 and run till August 1, followed by the Playoffs from August 4 to August 6.

Viewership stats from first two days of IEM Cologne 2023 and comparison to last year's event

The IEM Cologne 2023 did 5M Hours Watched, 411K Peak Viewers, and 234K Average Viewers over an airtime of 21 hours and 20 minutes on the first two days. The peak match so far came during the trans-continental clash between Australia's Grayhound Gaming and FURIA Esports from Brazil, which hit 365K PV, with a maximum of two matches being held at the same time.

The teams to have directly qualified for the Group Stage are Heroic, GamerLegion, Cloud9, ENCE (all Group A), Team Vitality, Natus Vincere, G2 Esports, and FaZe Clan (all Group B). The first-placed side from each pool will directly make the Semifinals of the Playoffs, while Group B's second-placed unit will face Group A's third-placed org and Group A's second-placed team will battle Group B's third-placed roster in the Playoffs Quarterfinals.

So far, Portuguese has been the dominant language, taking up 43.76% of the overall watch hours compared to English's 39.18%. The main reason was the signing of FalleN, who switched allegiances from one Brazilian side to another, as he completed a move from Imperial Esports to FURIA Esports. Having helped pull in large crowds during his time with the former, the two-time Major champion has brought over that fanfare and attention of fans to the latter, which has only helped the viewership stats soar.

Moreover, CS:GO Twitch star gaules has already streamed more than half of his entire watch hours from 2022 in just two days. Considering the hype around the teams from his country, if he continues to do be this heavily involved, it will only help the competition shoot further up the viewership charts.

  Comparing the first couple of days’ stats of the last two IEM Colognes   

Compared to the first two days of the IEM Cologne 2022, this year did much better in all departments. While gaules was a big reason for this, there was also the fact that two top names from Brazil, Imperial Esports and FURIA Esports, are in action and still have a chance of making the Group Stage. If they do go further, they will only attract larger crowds online.

Of course, with new rosters for many organizations post the summer reshuffle, fans have also been chomping at the bit to see their favorite sides battle it out against fellow giants, meaning more viewers came online to catch the action live.

Another streamer who has been a big reason for the 2023 iteration starting off so well is ohnePixel, who has already passed his entire watch-hours stats from last year. He will be hopeful that the remaining team — MOUZ — from his country, Germany, does well, with BIG having already exited.

The overall prize pool at this CS:GO tournament is $1M, and with a majority of games still to play, all the teams that remain will hope to pick up momentum and gp as far as possible. Of course, there will be the usual suspects like NAVI, Team Liquid, Heroic, and Team Vitality who will be favorites among fans, so there is guaranteed to be an exciting week of action for viewers across the world.