TI12 Viewership Cracks Top 5 Despite Decline in Average Viewership

TI12 viewership may have dipped in numbers, but it still managed to become one of the most-watched TI editions of all time

The International 2023, also known as TI12, concluded with the fourth-best viewership stats ever recorded for this prestigious tournament. The TI12 viewership outperformed TI8, the previous TI held in North America, in terms of total hours watched and peak viewership. It’s worth noting, however, that there was a noticeable decline in viewership compared to the previous year’s grand event.TI12, for the first time in TI history, also failed to secure a spot in the top 10 list of esports competitions for the year.

#TI12 out of the TOP 10! 😲

For the first time since it’s inception, The International didn’t make it to the Top 10 Tournaments of the year by peak viewers.

More on our recap:
➡️https://t.co/1kdc6eGcrB pic.twitter.com/gvYfQ1XJhA

— Esports Charts 🇺🇦 (@EsportsCharts) October 30, 2023

These impressive statistics were carefully collected and analyzed by Esports Charts, a renowned expert in tracking and reporting on esports viewership data. It’s crucial to highlight that the data presented here doesn’t include information from Chinese streaming platforms. This omission paints an optimistic picture of the competitive Dota 2 scene, despite the decline, given the high levels of global viewership and engagement.

How TI12 Viewership Compares To Its Predecessors

The grand final of The International 2023 proved to be the most-viewed match of the tournament, captivating an impressive audience of 1.4 million viewers and accumulating a total of 65.4 million hours of viewership. While this fell slightly short of the viewership figures from the previous year’s TI in Singapore, despite having a similar duration of airtime, it did manage to surpass the numbers achieved by the North American event held before it.

Photo Credit: Esports Charts

Total viewership hours for TI11 reached an impressive 67 million, surpassing this year’s event by two million hours. Additionally, TI11 boasted a higher peak viewership than its successor. Among all-time viewership rankings, TI11 secured a commendable third place. The preceding competition, TI10, stands tall as the reigning champion with an astounding 107 million hours of watchtime, while The International 2019 follows closely in second place, clocking in at 88 million hours.

Over 2.73 million peak viewership for The International 10 (#TI10), specifically for the Grand Finals between @LGDgaming vs. @Team__Spirit.

This is 37% more than TI9 between OG & Team Liquid and sixth highest viewed tournament in all of esports.

Does not incl CN numbers #dota2 pic.twitter.com/UbliIQfrut

— Torte de Lini (@TorteDeLini) October 21, 2021

Why TI12 Viewership Dipped

This year’s TI, being the first one in North America since the 2018 event in Vancouver, brought with it a shift in viewing times for fans around the world. Fans in popular regions, like Western and Eastern Europe, faced the challenge of staying up late into the night to catch the action. Regardless of the inconvenience, the TI12 viewership managed to surpass the previous North American TI held five years ago.

The International 2018 garnered nearly 64 million hours of watch time, with the peak viewership hitting the 1.2 million mark.

The tournament is also noteworthy for having set a record with its relatively modest prize pool of $3.1 million, which could have been a contributing factor to the comparatively lower viewership numbers. It’s known that larger prize pools often generate more excitement and attention from both players and fans, which might explain the impact on viewership figures for this particular event.