IEM Katowice 2024 concluded its Group Stage, eliminating 18 out of the total 24 participating teams. The decisive match between Heroic and G2 Esports concluded on the night of February 6. The event has garnered significantly higher viewership than its predecessor, signaling a promising future for Counter-Strike as CS2 gradually establishes its new esports scene for a familiar title.
Six teams qualified for the playoffs. G2 Esports and Team Falcons qualified through the lower bracket of their groups, while ENCE and FaZe Clan, despite losing their upper bracket final match, secured a spot. Team Spirit and MOUZ, as champions of their groups, advanced directly to the semifinals.
The transition to Counter-Strike 2 has reshaped the esports scene, with teams adjusting at varying paces. Following the CS2 change, ESL promptly continued developing and optimizing their esports events. IEM Katowice 2024 brought significant updates, including new primary and secondary broadcasts.
ESL introduced official Turkish broadcasts, started streaming on Chinese platforms, and added Russian and Kazakh broadcasters. Notably, these broadcasts aren’t all directly run by ESL but involve partnerships with existing studios and casters as official broadcast partners for different languages.
The IEM Katowice 2024 Group Stage saw a substantial increase in viewership compared to the previous year.
Despite fewer broadcast hours in 2024, watch time increased by 11.5% to over 12 million hours, and average concurrent viewers increased by 29.1% to 291.2K. The event reached an overall peak viewership of 525.3K concurrent viewers.
The most popular match was the upper bracket semifinals of Group B between ENCE and G2 Esports, with a peak viewership of 449.7K, 4.8% stronger than the previous year’s most popular Group Stage match.
ENCE, a newly formed Polish team, defeating Counter-Strike titans at a LAN in Poland created an electric atmosphere at the venue and brought excitement to online potential viewers. This significantly impacted both the team’s viewership and Polish-language viewership.
IEM Katowice 2024 witnessed a successful Group Stage in terms of viewership. Changes in the competitive meta and ESL’s decision to include more official broadcasts led to a shift in language dynamics. English became less crucial for total viewership, and various languages saw significant increases compared to the previous year.
Although fan favorites like NAVI and Team Vitality have been eliminated, IEM Katowice 2024 promises exciting Playoffs with some of the strongest Counter-Strike teams worldwide. The Quarterfinal match between ENCE and Team Falcons begins on Friday, February 9, at 18:30 GMT. Track viewership statistics or follow the event’s schedule on the relevant tournament page, powered by Esports Charts.