IEM Katowice 2024 garnered over 970K peak viewers during the final, demonstrating significant progress in audience reach compared to the previous year. Particularly noteworthy were the results of the Polish broadcast, which set a new record for esports viewership in five years.
The standout sensation of IEM Katowice 2024 was Team Spirit, a Russian team that advanced from the Play-In stage to the grand final and defeated FaZe Clan in the decisive championship match. Notably, the 17-year-old Team Spirit player, Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets, impressed many with his performance at IEM Katowice 2024, both in terms of statistics and by receiving his first career MVP award from HLTV.org.
Viewership statistics for IEM Katowice 2024 surpassed last year’s tournament figures, increasing from 726.8K to 972.3K peak viewers (+33%). Additionally, the average number of viewers on broadcasts grew by 22%.
The most popular match of IEM Katowice 2024 was the series between Team Spirit and FaZe Clan, attracting 972K peak viewers.
The second most popular match of the tournament, the encounter between ENCE and Team Falcons, gathered only 564K PV. This significant difference is primarily attributed to the activity of viewers on Russian-language broadcasts, with many tuning in to support Team Spirit in the grand final.
English-language broadcasts at IEM Katowice 2024 attracted as many viewers as in 2023. However, both peak and average viewership for broadcasts significantly increased for Russian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, and Ukrainian languages. Polish, in particular, set a new record — 172K PV, which is 45% higher than the previous record set at the 2019 World Championship. Some languages experienced a decrease in audience compared to last year, such as French and Vietnamese.
Matches of IEM Katowice 2024 were covered by over 100 unique channels, several dozen more than the previous year. Among the largest community casters of the tournament, besides Gaules and ohnePixel, we can also mention the Polish caster izakooo and the Russian caster buster. Although they did not cover the previous tournament, this year they managed to attract 100K+ peak viewers on their broadcasts. Meanwhile, the official Russian-language broadcast of the tournament (channel cs2_paragon_ru) had three times fewer viewers.
IEM Katowice 2024 showcased the fourth-highest peak viewership among all IEM tournaments in Katowice. The absolute leader in all audience metrics remains IEM Katowice Major 2019, which was watched by 1.2M peak viewers.