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Esports has become more popular than ever before over the last couple of years and they show no sign of slowing down any time soon. In fact, The Call of Duty league final, which was broadcast on Youtube.com, drew a record 331,00 and broke the record for most viewed COD Esports match in the games storied history.
“Call of Duty has been a long-time personal favorite,” Ryan Wyatt, Global Head of YouTube Gaming, said in an email to Forbes.com, “so bringing the league to YouTube and seeing its positive momentum in viewership and subscribers throughout the season has been a massive win.”
The match took place between The Atlanta Faze and The Dallas Empire and finally ended after the Dallas Empire destroyed Atlanta 5 matches to 1. The previous record was set in the league’s inaugural season, where they had over 200,000 viewers. This year’s tournament was originally supposed to take place in local markets, but was cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic, which forced them to move to YouTube.
“What an epic finale to an amazing Call of Duty League Championship Weekend,” Johanna Faries, Call of Duty League commissioner claimed after the tournament. “Congratulations to the Dallas Empire as the League’s first-ever champions, to the entire Envy Gaming organization, and to the great city of Dallas. You all earned the glory with a dominating performance. Thanks as well to all of our 12 CDL team franchises for making this inaugural season so successful, exciting, and memorable.”
Believe it or not, overall viewership for the finals totaled over 206,000 AMA across all of YouTube’s official platforms. The league also surpassed over a million subscribers to their YouTube channel, which is a promising sign for the sports future. While Activision Blizzard, who owns Call of Duty, is happy for the league’s success, they are still hoping for even bigger numbers to offset the damage caused by Coronavirus.
Of course, it is going to take time to undo the damage that has been caused by the ongoing pandemic, but COO, Tony Petitti, has been tasked with coming up with ways to take the league to the next level. Whether that be by changing how it is presented on television or how they plan to grow the sport and reach a bigger audience remains to be seen, but the possibilities seem endless with these record breaking numbers.
“As soon as we get back to operating in local markets, I think you’re gonna see in-person experiences that rival traditional sports,” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick told Forbes.com last month. “We’re in the first inning when you think about the opportunities around the world. I think there’s an enormous opportunity for us to build and grow those in their local markets.”