The International 2024, Dota 2’s biggest tournament of the year, saw a slight drop in viewers when compared to its 2023 edition.
The 2024 edition, which took place at Copenhagen’s Royal Arena, recorded a peak viewership of 1.43m. This is a slight decrease from The International 2023, which garnered 1.44m peak viewers, according to esports viewership platform Esports Charts.
The International is the most important event in the Dota 2 calendar and is known for being one of the most popular esports events of the year in general. The 2024 edition’s viewership has remained roughly the same as last year, with just a couple of thousand viewers less, but the average viewership has dropped from 541,000 in 2023 to just over 467,000 in 2024. The 2023 edition also had around 10m more hours watched (65m versus 54m) and a prize pool of $3.28m (~£2.48m) compared to this year’s $2.5m (~£1.89).
The most popular match of the tournament was the grand final between Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators. However, eventual winners Team Liquid were only the third most popular team of the event, with 11.5m total hours. Gaimin Gladiators were the most-watched team with 16.1m views, followed by Tundra Esports with 13.9m.
The total viewership figures make The International 2024 the fifth-most watched edition of the tournament, with more viewers than its 2017 and 2018 editions. However, this is still more than a million viewers less than the most-watched edition in history, the International 10 which took place in 2021.
The viewership trends for the tournament are, sadly, pointing to a longer-term drop in views for the tournament. While the latest iteration did not see a significant drop, it is the third edition in a row that has seen an overall decrease in peak viewership.
