The NAVI effect — impressive results of WePlay Academy League Season 2

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Since the end of 2020, the trend for academy CS:GO rosters has started again, and WePlay Academy League was created specifically for these teams. The second season of the league recently ended, and it turned out to be quite successful for a tier-2 event in terms of viewership activity. 

Eight teams took part in the competition with a prize pool of $100K, but only four rosters got into the finals, which took place at the WePlay Esports Arena in Kyiv. One of the participants was NAVI Junior, and thanks to this team the event attracted quite a few viewers. Esports Charts overviewed the championship’s results, its statistics, and the most popular teams.

WePlay Academy League Season 2 Statistics

WePlay Academy League Season 2 was held from September 28 to November 14. Over 75 hours of airtime, the tournament gained almost 700K Hours Watched with 9.2K Average Viewers.

The winners of WePlay Academy League Season 2 were mouz NXT, who won $45K. The second place went to Natus Vincere Junior, which received $20K. At the same time, the roster of the Ukrainian organization became the most popular team of the championship: its attracted the largest number of viewers both in groups and in the main stage.

Thanks to the fanbase of Natus Vincere Junior, the statistics of the tournament is comparable to many tier-2 events featuring more eminent teams. For example, the championship attracted 51.9K Peak Viewers — this is twice as much as the recent Elisa Invitational Fall 2021, where many famous teams played, such as BIG, ENCE, Fnatic, Gambit and Copenhagen Flames.

Talking about the Russian-speaking audience, its Peak Viewers indicator of 41.1K people was reached during the match between NAVI.Junior and Young Ninjas in the lower bracket final. The Russian-speaking audience also made the largest contribution to the total Hours Watched of WePlay Academy League Season 2, being responsible for 74.5% of total Hours Watched.

Natus Vincere Junior also ended up becoming the absolute leaders of WePlay Academy League Season 2 in terms of Hours Watched. The youth roster of NAVI collected more than 525.5K hours, with the runners-up being Young Ninjas, who generated two time less Hours Watched.

The third spot was taken by mouz NXT, which scored 254.4K Hours Watched — it's only 7K below Young Ninjas. Closing the top 5 were BIG Academy and Fnatic Rising with 159.4K and 66.7K hours, respectively.

Comparison with WePlay Academy League 2021

Compared to WePlay Academy League 2021, some indicators of the second season have decreased. Hours Watched indicator of the last championship turned out to be almost two times lower, while Average Viewers decreased by 17.6%. But it should be kept in mind that WePlay Academy League Season 2 was on air 33% hours less.

However, WePlay Academy League Season 2 exceeded the first season in terms of Peak Viewers — 51.9K versus 28.4K people (82% more). The championship also doubled its Russian-speaking Peak Viewers due NAVI.Junior advancing into the playoffs (from 19.5K to 41.1K Peak Viewers), while the English-speaking and Portuguese-speaking Peak Viewers remained practically at the same level.

It was the presence of Natus Vincere Junior that ensured the event’s high performance, given that NAVI is the one of the most popular and recognizable esports organization in the world, which further increased its fanbase after winning the Stockholm Major. In addition, the youth squad was able to get to the main stage in the second season, allowing it to greatly boost the event's statistics.

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Prior to the WePlay Academy League Season 2 final, the organizers announced the third season of the tournament. The championship will take place in January 2022, but its exact dates and prize fund have not yet been announced.

Similar statistics on the most popular teams in any esports tournament (except for events in the battle royale genre) are available to all owners of a PRO category subscription. It can be issued using this link.