Tournament organiser ESL has revealed the viewership statistics for the tenth season of its Counter Strike: Global Offensive Pro League.
The increase in viewership based upon the previous season is thought to be partly down to the new format and the revamped visual identity of the league for 2019.
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Excluding China, 22.6 million hours of content were watched throughout the duration of Season 10. The average minute audience for the season totaled to to 52,140 people, marking an increase in 38.94 percent based on the same measurement from the previous season.
The finals of Season 10 took place at the sold-out Jyske Bank Arena in Odense, Denmark with 5,000 fans in attendance. The finals of the tournament saw mousesports sweep Fnatic in the finals to win its first Pro League title and the majority share of $750,000 (£572,217) in prize money.
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Ulrich Schulze, Senior Vice President of Product at ESL commented on the viewing figures: “This year was the most outstanding year in the history of the ESL Pro League. We are very pleased that the Pro League 2019 has performed well in so many aspects. In the three years that we have visited the Danish fans in Odense, we have seen a steady growth from 2017 to 2019, which we owe last but not least to a large extent to the incredible Danish fan base.
“We did a lot in 2019 to improve and refine the ESL Pro League in order to grant a unique viewer experience by giving key components such as the competition an all-new format and visual look. Looking back, we now know that this new concept has been received extraordinarily well.”
Esports Insider says: The growth in the Pro League is partly due to the revamped format and new look of the league, but nonetheless, these strong viewerships figures are a good sign heading into the eleventh season of the league – though competition is about to stiffen up with BLAST Premier and rumoured competitions that are yet to be officially announced.
