In addition to a full arena of 8,500 fans on each day of ESL One New York this year, the East coast event also generated a staggering 20 million unique online views.
Fans of CS:GO and Street Fighter V watched the pros battle it out for a $250,000 (£202,000) purse for Counter Strike and a $75,000 (£60,600) pool for Street Fighter.
ESL One New York also saw record-breaking levels of engagement on social media. There were more than 122 million impressions generated on ESL’s Twitter and Facebook channels, which included over seven million fan engagements.
ESL’s own content reached in excess of 21 million unique fans worldwide, 10.6 million of which were generated via highlights and backstage content. Nearly 80,000 Twitter accounts joined the conversation around the event with approximately 182,027 tweets. This makes ESL One New York one of the most talked about events in ESL history.
Ulrich Schulze, Vice President of Pro Gaming at ESL, said: “ESL is committed to showcasing legendary gameplay in the context of amazing event experiences. We are proud that ESL One New York delivered on this commitment, sparking worldwide conversation from thousands of attendees live from Barclays Center and millions of online viewers.”
The eclectic event also featured a live musical performance by EDM duo Krewella, an appearance by Ice-T, and the first-ever VR broadcast for an esports event thanks to a collaboration with WonderWorld VR and SLIVER.tv. ESL’s Stuart Ewen spoke to Esports Insider about the potential of VR in esports prior to the event.
Keith Sheldon, Senior VP of Programming at Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment commented: “We were thrilled to have the top Counter Strike and Street Fighter gamers at the first-ever esports event at Barclays Center. With the excitement and conversation that surrounded this event in the esports community worldwide, we look forward to partnering with ESL on future events.”
In the CS:GO tournament, Natus Vincere were triumphant defeating Virtus.pro in the finale. Hundreds of Street Fighter V players fought it out in theScore eSports Brooklyn Beatdown with Chinese player Zhuojun ‘Xiao Hai’ Zeng emerging victorious after he beat Japan’s Yusuke ‘Momochi’ Momochi in the final at the Barclay Center.
Esports Insider says: 20 million unique online views and 122 million social media engagements is not to be sniffed at. ESL continues to improve its events and add new forms of engagement such as VR. Long may this, and the growth in numbers, continue.
