Dota 2 viewership decline as 2023 Bali Major record lowest number

Despite having exciting, intriguing, and action-packed matches, the Group Sage of the Bali Major 2023 failed to draw a sizable viewership and finished as the least watched of all major tournaments in the 2023 season.

The final major of the season and the last stop before The Internationals 2023 have significantly lower viewership numbers than the previous two majors. The event started off on the wrong foot, recording the lowest viewership of the year on its first day. The peak viewership for the Bali Major 2023 on its opening day was 223,163 viewers, a fall of 30% from the first day of the ESL One Berlin Major 2023, which had over 328,000 peak viewers.

Up to this point, the @DOTA2 Bali Major 2023 has peaked at 256K viewers.

Will the Playoffs stage boost it well over the #DreamLeague numbers? 🏆

A recap of #DreamLeague 20:https://t.co/LH2IxvcLoS pic.twitter.com/5HPGY8F5uP

— Esports Charts 🇺🇦 (@EsportsCharts) July 3, 2023

With total airtime of 61 hours and 35 minutes, the Bali Major competition currently has a peak audience of 255,813. In terms of Total Hours Watched during the group stage, the Bali Major fell short by 26% when compared to its predecessor in Berlin. The series between Gaimin Gladiators and Quest Esports, which attracted over 214.8K peak viewers, was the most watched of the entire event. Meanwhile, the most watched game of the Berlin Major was the Grand Final between Gaimin Gladiators and Team Liquid, which garnered over 507K peak viewers.

Reasons behind the viewership drop:

The event’s total viewership decline is primarily due to the schedule, which is difficult for fans in North America and Europe to follow. Since the Bali Major competitions begin extremely early for North American and European spectators, they have no choice but to miss the matches. Europe still reigns supreme in the professional Dota 2 scene in terms of both performance and viewership.

Teams like Gaimin Gladiators and Team Liquid put on tremendous performances and achieve fantastic results this year, which makes it more fun for European fans to support them. In addition to the different broadcast schedule, fans have attacked IO Esports, the Bali Major’s organizer, for the event’s subpar audio-visual quality, lack of a dedicated YouTube channel, poor stream quality, approach to social media promotion, and expensive tickets that are deemed out of reach for Dota 2 fans.

The Bali Major 2023 has so far underperformed compared to other major tournaments, though viewership may surge in the coming days. Eight teams are still running in contention for the trophy, with four of them representing Europe and two China. The most dominating team of the year, Gaimin Gladiators alongside their longtime rivals, Team Liquid, will likely face each other again if they win their respective upper-bracket semifinal matchups. Two Chinese teams, PSG.LGD and Azure Ray, are scheduled to compete in a knockout match today on the other side of the double-elimination bracket.

Header: Valve