On August 7, IEM Cologne 2024 kicked off in Germany, though its start was less impressive than last year, with viewership metrics showing a decline of 20-40%. However, as top teams begin to compete, audience engagement is expected to rise.
The tournament’s format remains largely consistent with previous years. Teams are split into two groups based on the ESL World Ranking, with the higher-ranked teams entering directly into the group stage, while others must go through the Play-In stage. A significant change this year is that the first round of Play-In matches is now best-of-three series, rather than best-of-one. Consequently, only eight matches were held on the first day, compared to ten at IEM Cologne 2023.
Day one saw some notable results, including Eternal Fire’s victory over Team Falcons and Heroic’s unexpected loss to MIBR. No teams have been eliminated yet, and favorites like Team Liquid and Complexity Gaming are still well-positioned to advance to the group stage.
Top Matches of IEM Cologne 2024 Day 1
The most-watched match on day one was between Team Liquid and paiN Gaming. Despite paiN Gaming’s 0-2 loss, the Brazilian team delivered a strong performance, attracting over 192,500 peak viewers.
Compared to last year’s tournament, viewership statistics for day one of IEM Cologne 2024 show a significant decline, with average viewership dropping by 42%. Although the new series format extended the total airtime by 38.5%, total watch time still fell.
The main reason for this decline is the reduced interest from the Brazilian audience watching Gaules. On the first day of IEM Cologne 2023, Gaules reached a peak viewership of 222,000 and an average of 84,000 viewers on Twitch. This year, his peak viewership dropped to 49,800, with an average of 21,000 viewers on Twitch. On YouTube, he reached 31,300 peak viewers and 13,000 average viewers on day one, with the highest numbers during the Brazilian derby between FURIA and Imperial Esports.
The official ESL CS channel also saw a significant drop in average viewership, from 34,800 to 27,200. Moreover, the number of channels broadcasting the first day’s matches decreased from 107 to 64.
Comparing IEM Cologne Tournaments
A key difference between this year’s and last year’s tournaments is the shift in viewership distribution across languages and platforms. For IEM Cologne 2024, YouTube viewership has significantly increased compared to the previous year. Portuguese-language streams have seen a nearly one-third decrease in popularity, while Russian-language broadcasts have doubled their share. These trends are likely to evolve as the tournament progresses.
FlyQuest became the first team to be eliminated from IEM Cologne 2024, losing to both BIG and The MongolZ. You can follow the tournament’s progress on its Esports Charts page.