The Brawl Stars World Finals 2023 has recorded lower peak and average viewership figures compared to its previous edition last year.
The season-ending tournament took place during DreamHack Winter in Sweden and garnered 273,149 peak viewers, more than 120,000 less than in 2022, according to esports data platform Esports Charts.
Published by Finnish game company Supercell, Brawl Stars is a mobile MOBA and third-person shooter that sees players compete in a variety of game modes.
This year’s world finals was won by ZETA DIVISION, a Japanese esports organisation that currently operates with a Polish roster, after beating STMN Esports. The organisation takes home a lion’s share of the event’s $750,000 (~£594,000) prize pool.
As a result of the victory, ZETA DIVISION has won the last three consecutive Brawl Stars World Finals, albeit under different esports divisions. In 2022, ZETA DIVISION finished first and second due to the fact that the organisation previously operated two rosters — ZERO and ONE.
ZETA was the most popular esports organisation in the event, recording around 292,800 hours across the competition’s nearly 15-hour air time. Semi-finalists Crazy Racoon, another Japan-based organisation, were the most popular team in terms of average viewers, recording around 193,400 viewers during its matches.
In terms of overall average viewers, the event also recorded lower figures than in 2022. This year’s event recorded 164,232 average viewers, down from 200,259 in 2022.
Per Esports Charts, the most popular broadcasts remain to be English-language broadcasts (139,588 peak viewers), whereas the most popular platform is once again Twitch (235,012).
Finally, whilst peak and average viewership is down, this year’s Brawl Stars World Finals recorded more hours watched (3.1m) than 2022 (2.95m).
Alongside the Brawl Stars showcase, this year’s Dreamhack Winter at Jönköping, Sweden featured a range of other esports competitions. This included the ESL R1 Fall Major, eFIBA World Finals and Counter-Strike’s ESL Challenger, the latter of which was won by Monte.
Last year saw Brawl Stars’ World Championship head to Disneyland Paris. The competition’s previous locations also include Bucharest (Romania) and Busan (South Korea).
