RLCS 22-23 World Championship reaches peak viewership

Posted : 14 August 2023

The RLCS 22-23 World Championship shattered Rocket League's previous record for peak viewership, reaching an impressive peak of 468,292 concurrent viewers, as reported by Esports Charts data.

Spanning two weeks and concluding on August 13th, the event fell short of surpassing last season's average concurrent viewership (average minute audience) figure.

The Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) serves as Psyonix's global esports circuit. With a substantial prize pool of $6 million (~£5.2 million) for the 2022-23 season, the World Championship alone allocated $2.1 million (~£1.65 million).

Hosted in Düsseldorf, Germany, this year's World Championship outstripped Rocket League's previous record (368,721 peak viewers) by around 100,000 viewers. The peak viewership occurred during a semi-final clash between French giants Team Vitality and Karmine Corp.

Both teams featured French lineups, a nod to Rocket League's solid player and fan base in the country. Unlike the grand finals, the semi-final match was also co-streamed by the prominent French streamer and Karmine Corp co-owner Kameto. The grand finals, showcasing Team Vitality and another French roster, Team BDS, reached a peak of 425,196 viewers.

The significance of the French audience was evident in the event's language distribution. French-language streams peaked at 203,175 viewers, trailing slightly behind English-language streams with 291,646 peak viewers.

Despite this, the event experienced a slight decline in average viewership compared to last season's World Championship. The 2022-23 World Championship garnered an average of 154,302 viewers, whereas this year's edition recorded an average of 147,858 viewers. Both events maintained similar hours watched (9.5 million vs. 10 million hours) and total air times (64 vs. 66 hours).

Notably, North American teams faced challenges in the tournament, with none advancing beyond the quarterfinals. This was a noteworthy outcome as North America constitutes one of the largest markets for Rocket League. Other significant regions, including MENA and South America, also failed to progress their teams past the quarterfinals.

Following the event's conclusion, Murty Shah, Esports Product and Operations Lead at Psyonix, shared on Twitter (now X): "Our team, comprised of incredibly talented individuals, is dedicated to proving that Rocket League is the perfect esport. The vision is to travel from city to city, hosting outstanding LAN events to showcase our beautiful game. This World Championship marked the realization of that vision. Transforming something I had only dreamt of for so many years into reality on this scale has truly been an honor of a lifetime."

While the official RLCS season has concluded, the Rocket League segment of the Saudi esports festival, Gamers8, will take place later this month. There is speculation of a substantial break preceding the next RLCS season.

RLCS 22-23 World Championship reaches peak viewership

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