The IEM Rio 2024 wrapped up on October 13 at the Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a significant boost in viewership compared to the previous year. Despite surprising results and early exits of fan-favorite teams, the event maintained a strong audience and concluded on a high note.
Natus Vincere’s (NAVI) victory was a major highlight, securing the team a spot at IEM Katowice 2025. The Ukrainian squad claimed $100,000 out of the $250,000 prize pool, defeating teams like Team Liquid, Heroic, and Virtus.pro along the way.
IEM Rio 2024 – Viewership Highlights and Key Matches
The tournament reached a peak of 710.2K viewers during the Grand Final, where NAVI beat MOUZ 3:1, a 26.3% increase over last year. NAVI’s popularity, having reached the Semifinals in 2023, contributed greatly to this growth, appearing in four of the top five most-watched matches.
The event saw 14.4M hours watched and averaged 289.7K viewers over 50 hours of airtime. Despite slightly fewer hours than last year, the average viewership jumped by 16.1%.
Comparing IEM Rio 2023 and 2024 Viewership
One reason for the viewership boost was broader coverage, with more channels streaming the competition. Gaules, who co-cast the event on both Twitch and YouTube, continued to lead with his YouTube stream hitting a peak of 118.8K viewers during the FURIA vs. MOUZ semifinals. He also reached 115.8K viewers during the October 8 coverage, marking some of his most-watched streams.
NAVI’s strong performance helped drive viewership across multiple languages. Russian coverage saw increased interest, while Ukrainian viewership jumped 141%, with Leb1ga’s stream reaching 33K viewers during NAVI’s Grand Final win.
Most Popular Teams and Overall CS Viewership in 2024
NAVI was unsurprisingly the most-watched team of the event, despite one prominent team that exited early still making the top five for average viewership. On YouTube, cumulative hours watched tripled, with the platform’s peak viewership growing by 173.2%, largely thanks to Gaules and the engagement from Eastern European channels.
In 2024, IEM Rio ranked as the sixth most-watched Counter-Strike event and was among the top ten for peak viewership. With this fourth major win in 2024, NAVI has cemented its position as the year’s best team, even without their star player s1mple. All eyes are now on their performance at the BLAST Premier: World Final 2024.
