The RLCS 2024 World Championship wrapped up on September 15, with Team BDS claiming their second Rocket League world title. As previously reported after the group stage, RLCS viewership trends have been intricate. Esports Charts compiled data not just for the 2024 championship but for both the 2024 and 2023 RLCS seasons to highlight how viewership has changed.
The 2024 World Championship saw some complex shifts in viewership right from the start. While it began with lower-than-usual average numbers, it set a new peak viewership milestone. Similarly, the event ended with inconsistent viewership patterns.
RLCS 2024 World Championship Viewership Stats
The absence of the Wild Card stage shortened the 2024 event by roughly 18 hours compared to previous years, which led to lower total Hours Watched—7.4 million, the lowest for any RLCS finals. However, the shorter format contributed to a higher average viewership, with 153.7K viewers on average, just 6K short of the most-watched RLCS event, the first Major of 2024.
In terms of peak viewership, the tournament reached 426.8K viewers, about 40K fewer than last year’s finals. The highest viewership was during Karmine Corp’s semifinal match against G2 Stride, which saw KC fall 3-4. The Grand Final between G2 and Team BDS attracted only 304K peak viewers, marking a 121.2K drop compared to the previous year’s final.
Despite a French team being in the final, overall viewership was low. Although French-language streams have become the dominant audience for RLCS, their support largely focuses on two teams: Karmine Corp and Gentle Mates Alpine. Kamet0 from Karmine Corp and Gotaga from Gentle Mates were the top streamers of the event, with 139.5K and 95K peak viewers, respectively. Both streamers hit these peaks during their teams’ final playoff matches, suggesting that if the teams had progressed further, viewership might have soared even higher.
Notably, North American streamer xQc also contributed to the grand final’s viewership, reaching 34.3K peak viewers as he streamed part of the final match.
Viewership Analysis and Comparisons
The 2024 championship ended as the second-most-watched RLCS world championship and the third-most popular event overall. Had Gentle Mates or Karmine Corp made it further, the event might have reached record-breaking numbers. Across the top four most-watched RLCS matches, all featured Karmine Corp or Gentle Mates, underlining the massive influence these teams and their creators have on Rocket League’s esports scene.
Without teams backed by popular French content creators, some of the most-watched matches include:
- Team Vitality vs Team BDS (425K viewers, RLCS 2022-23 World Championship)
- FURIA Esports vs Moist Esports (368K viewers, RLCS 2021-22 World Championship)
- G2 Stride vs FaZe Clan (338K viewers, RLCS 2021-22 World Championship)
In summary, the 2024 RLCS World Championship had mixed results in viewership due to the shorter format and early exits from fan-favorite teams. The only way to potentially break viewership records in the future may be a Karmine Corp vs. Gentle Mates final.
2024 vs. 2023 RLCS Viewership
When comparing the 2024 RLCS season with 2023, viewership was lower this year. While French viewership is increasing, English-language audiences remain the largest group but are in decline. This drop affected the overall viewership, with English-language watch time down 35.5% during the 2024 championship compared to the previous year.
In total, the 2024 RLCS season recorded 30.09M Hours Watched, falling behind the 2023 and 2022 seasons. French viewership, while growing, hasn’t yet been able to make up for the decline in English-speaking audiences, and primarily spikes when the two most popular French-backed teams are competing.
