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IEM Katowice becomes the most popular non-Major tournament in CS history

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At the IEM Katowice tournament, Team Vitality emerged victorious after their final game drew a staggering 1.3 million concurrent spectators at its peak.

At the IEM Katowice Grand Finals in 2025, Team Vitality took home the trophy following an outstanding display against Team Spirit. Fans of Counter-Strike got to witness Zywoo shine when it counted the most. The Grand Finals drew a record audience of 1.29 million viewers, despite the series being decided in a swift 3-0 win by Team Vitality.

IEM Katowice’s peak viewership reaches nearly 1.3 million viewers

– In the contest between Team Spirit and Vitality, the peak viewership reached an impressive figure of 1,299,747, only slightly below the 1.3 million mark. The majority of these viewers tuned in to watch the English broadcast, amounting to a staggering 573,383 peak viewers. Additionally, Russian viewers made up a substantial portion with 386,845 peak viewers.
– Despite the competition being over in just three maps, had Team Spirit performed better and won more maps, the viewership could have reached even greater heights. This event surpassed the previous semifinal match record between Team Spirit and NAVI, which held a peak viewership of 1,036,326.

In the tournament, the second game to surpass a million viewers was the championship match. The first game to exceed six figures in viewership was the semifinal between NAVI and Team Spirit. Although NAVI was the preferred team among spectators, it was Team Spirit who emerged victorious in the series, securing their place in the Grand Finals. This set up a highly anticipated matchup between Zyw0o and donk in the Grand Finals. However, this time around, it was Zyw0o who claimed the victory, much to the disappointment of Team Spirit’s supporters. As the defending champions of IEM Katowice, having won the event in 2024, Team Spirit had a lot to prove.

2025’s IEM Katowice event experienced a significant surge in peak viewership, climbing by approximately 33.7% compared to the previous year. Concurrently, the average number of viewers also saw an increase of around 32.6%. This growth was primarily fueled by a substantial rise in broadcast channels, which expanded from 108 to 153—representing a notable jump of 41.6%. Interestingly, viewership swelled across all significant languages such as English, Russian, and Portuguese.

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The tournament amassed over 30 million hours of viewership, totalling exactly 30,667,137 hours. It kicked off on January 29 and concluded on February 9. Uniquely, the Grand Finals was the sole series throughout the entire tournament that followed a best-of-five format.

In the end, Team Vitality emerged victorious at IEM Katowice after defeating Team Spirit in a clean sweep (3-0). On Dust 2 and Nuke, Spirit failed to score more than ten rounds, while they managed eleven on Mirage. This triumph for Vitality earned them $400,000 in prize money, whereas Team Spirit left with $180,000 but harbored thoughts of seeking revenge against Vitality in their upcoming matchup.

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2025-02-10 16:40

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