The International 10 has seen massive increase in viewership and popularity over previous years. Team Spirit’s victory has also helped boost the CIS numbers.
The International 10, the pinnacle of Dota 2 esports, the biggest advertisement for the game and the highest prize pool in esports history, continues to set new viewership records and extend its outreach beyond just the Dota 2 community. Data platform Esports Charts has released more information about the TI10 viewership stats for the $40 million event.
Which were the most popular matches at TI10? (stats from Esports Charts)
TI10 was the first Dota 2 Major after two years. So it wasn’t a surprise to see Dota 2 fans flock to the streams to watch who will win the largest prize pool in esports history.
PSG.LGD came into the tournaments as the favorites, and despite losing to Team Spirit, they still maintained the highest win-rate at the tournament. Team Spirit were the underdogs and had a miracle run through the lower-bracket and some exceptional plays.
The Grand Finals of The International 10 is now the most popular Dota 2 match in history. With 2,741,514 peak viewers, it is significantly ahead of the second-highest match which was between OG and Team Liquid during TI9. Team Spirit won the Grand Finals with a 3-2 score.
Only three events in Dota 2 history had more than a million peak viewers and TI10 is right at the top. The top 4 in this list include the past four TIs and then followed by the Kiev Major. TIs have shown steady growth over the years in prize pool as well as viewership.
The TI10 viewership stats showed it outpaced TI9 by almost 40%, and all other championships in the discipline by over 100%.
Growth of The Dota 2 International
There has been steady growth in The International events in Dota 2. The EsportsCharts report has accounted for both hours watched as well as peak viewers in this statistics. While TI7 had 44.30 million hours watched, this number has more than doubled by 2021.
Similarly, the number of peak viewers has nearly tripled in just four years. The International continues to remain the most popular event in Dota 2, with the entire esports circuit formed around this event. The massive prize pool is crowdfunded with 25% of all battlepass sales contributing to the prize money.
TI10’s Popularity Soars in CIS
Unsurprisingly, there was a massive surge in the CIS viewership for TI10. Team Spirit is the first team from the CIS to win The International after NaVi won the first edition of the event.
Four of the top 5 most popular Dota 2 matches in CIS are from TI10 and all of them include Team Spirit. At the top is the Bo5 Grand Finals versus PSG.LGD. Team Spirit’s matches against Secret, Invictus Gaming and Virtus.Pro form the next most popular matches in TI10. The TI9 Grand Finals is the third-most popular Dota 2 match in the CIS region.
The TI10 viewership stats show that is was also the most popular esports event in the CIS region. This list includes esports events across titles, including several CS:GO events and the PUBG Mobile Global Championship. The most popular CS: GO event was IEM Katowice 2020.
TI10’s peak viewership in the CIS (1.2 million) was significantly higher than the TI9 Grand Finals. That’s not really a surprise considering it was a near-miracle run by Team Spirit.
English was the most popular language broadcast at TI10, closely followed by the Russian broadcast channel. On the final day of the event, the Russian broadcast was the more popular stream with more than 1.2 million viewers on the channel. This was 205k more than the English broadcast.
Team Spirit is the Most Popular Team at TI10
No one had an expectation off Team Spirit to win TI10. So their lower bracket run, fueled by some exceptional individual plays and macro-strategic calls, had many viewers backing the underdogs. Team Spirit took down several heavyweights before reaching the finals but were still the massive underdogs in the Grand Finals.
Everyone loves a good underdog story and the popularity charts also reflected the same. Team Spirit was the most popular team at TI10, closely followed by PSG.LGD. This statistic includes a combination of an average number of viewers as well as Hours watched.
TI10 has come to an end with fans getting some exciting games and an amazing lower-bracket run. Team Spirit’s run proves that any team, even one brimming with youngsters can make it to the top at The International. Statistics continue to show increased viewership and interest in this event. Dota 2 streams and events are growing in popularity in the CIS region.
For more such statistics follow Esports Charts on Twitter. Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Dota 2 news and updates.
Images from EScharts.