Shanghai Major Grand Finals Viewership: 1.3 million tune in to the Grand Finals

The Shanghai Major saw Donk emerge as the game’s youngest MVP superstar. Team Spirit took down FaZe Clan in the Grand Finals to win the Major in China - and secure their fate as the best Counter-Strike team as we end 2024. Being the first Counter-Strike 2 Major in Asia, all eyes were on the viewership for the event. 

The Shanghai Major took place in a timezone that is unfavorable for the average Counter-Strike fan. The viewership stats for the Major, however, threw up a pleasant surprise as there is a surge in viewership breaching the million mark.

The Counter-Strike Shanghai Major had 1.3 million concurrent viewers although the demographic of these viewers saw quite a big difference. There was a decline in English-speaking viewership - similarly, other languages also saw a decline in viewership. However, Russian viewership saw a steep rise, offsetting any decline in viewership in different languages. 

Counter-Strike has a strong and rather loyal Russian-speaking audience. The audience usually comes out in strong support for Team NAVI, however, NAVI was not present during the Finals of the Shanghai Major. Team Spirit went up against FaZe Clan in the Grand Finals of the Shanghai Major and the audience had yet another team to cheer for. 

Russian-speaking audiences saw a rise of nearly 50%. There were nearly 500,000 viewers during the Shanghai Major finals, almost 100,000 more than that of the Copenhagen Major 2024 as per esportscharts.com. 

There was palpable excitement about the finals, thanks to the clutch nature of the Grand Finals. When Team Spirit were at 12-5, almost on the verge of victory, FaZe Clan launched a dramatic comeback taking it all the way back up to 12-11.

However, Team Spirit won the very next round to win the Major. Had FaZe Clan won the next round, effectively starting Overtime, the viewership would have seen a significant uptick as more and more viewers were starting to tune in. 

Donk was the superstar of the finals, racking up four aces during the Grand Finals against FaZe Clan. This number surpasses that of Flamie set during IEMf Katowice 2019 when he was on NAVI. With a 1.49 rating, Donk’s performance was far ahead of his peers with Zywoo coming in next at 1.37. 

Here are the top matches by viewership during the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024:

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Featured Image: James Banks.