The Call of Duty League (CDL) Championship 2025 has become the most-watched event of the franchised era.
In addition to becoming the most-watched CDL event, Champs also became the second most-watched Call of Duty esports event in history.
According to esports data platform Esports Charts, the CDL Championship peaked at 353,525 viewers during the Grand Final between OpTic Texas and Vancouver Surge. This is highest peak viewing figures since Call of Duty esports switched to a franchise model.
Perhaps even more significant is that the CDL Championship recorded a 24% increase in viewers compared to last year’s event, which peaked at 283,184 viewers.
OpTic Texas featured in four of the five most-watched matches of the tournament, including its Grand Final victory over the Vancouver Surge, which featured in two of the five matches.
Despite the strong presence of the Green Wall in the viewing statistics, the franchise was only the second most-watched throughout the tournament. In total, OpTic Texas accumulated 1.5m viewers across the four-day event. Vancouver Surge took the top spot, with 1.8m viewers tuning into its matches.
Watch parties hosted by notable Call of Duty esports personalities and content creators also bolstered numbers. Seth ‘Scump’ Abner‘s watch party recorded a peak viewership of 173,744 viewers.
The vast majority of viewership came from YouTube, with the platform acting as the exclusive broadcaster of the CDL Championship 2025 event.
Call Of Duty’s Continued Growth
The success of the Call of Duty League Championship event is a sign that the franchised league is continuing an upward trajectory, which began with the first Major LAN of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 season.
Throughout the season, the league has recorded over 150,000 peak viewers across all of its online and offline matches, laying the foundations for what promises to be an exciting 2026/27 campaign.
