ESL has revealed that ESL One Cologne saw record-breaking digital engagement across all metrics.
The event saw 30 million unique social media platform users generate 209 million impressions. Online and linear viewership registered at over 62 million sessions, and accounted for more than 13 million hours of consumed content. The event was also streamed in Virtual Reality, where over 180,000 unique viewers tuned into broadcast through SliverTV.
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event saw Brazilian roster SK Gaming come out as champions of ESL One Cologne 2017. They roster took the lion share of the $250,000 prize money and importantly notched the first notch of their bid for the $1,000,000 Intel Grand Slam prize money. Should the squad win four of the last ten competitions across any major ESL or DreamHack events, they will automatically receive the $1 million bonus.
“Our fans have named LANXESS arena and ESL One Cologne the ‘Cathedral of Counter-Strike’ and we couldn’t be prouder,” said Ulrich Schulze, Vice President Pro Gaming at ESL. “It’s been incredibly rewarding and humbling at the same time to see how much this event has grown and improved over the years. We will continue building its legacy for years to come, and are looking forward to making it even better next year.”
The event also featured an appearance from DJ TheFatRat, who kicked off the opening ceremony for the Grand Finals with a live performance of the official ESL One Cologne 2017 song, Fly Away.
Next up in the ESL One series is ESL One New York 2017, taking place at the Barclays Center in New York, on September 16-17.
Esports Insider says: Impressive metrics from what is definitely one of the must watch Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fixtures is the calendar. Roll on New York at another prestigious venue. We’re not sure if the crowd out in the States will be able to eclipse the raucous Cologne crowd. Challenge set.
