Despite the Valorant Champions Tour’s popularity, Valorant EWC (Esports World Cup) viewership failed to break 500,000 viewers for the Grand Finals broadcast.
Contributing factors include criticism of broadcast quality and wider protests surrounding the Esports World Cup event.
Less than 500,000 viewers for Valorant EWC, over 1 million for VCT Toronto
Despite a tense five-game final between EMEA Valorant giants FNATIC and Team Heretics, viewership for the Esports World Cup broadcast was disappointingly low. Post-final statistics from Esports Charts indicate that the tournament only reached a peak of 451,943 viewers.
In contrast, the VCT Masters Toronto Final, which ended in an emotional victory for Paper Rex, drew a peak of 1,116,589 viewers. These figures do not account for Chinese viewership, where Valorant also gains high viewership.
Although it is not possible to source peak concurrent viewership statistics, watch party streams by other content creators were notably popular alternatives to EWC broadcast viewership.
Mixwell’s Twitch stream of the Heretics vs FNATIC Grand Final had 397,855 viewers. Another Twitch stream from beyAz attracted 121,905 viewers. GOFNS’s stream of the final day of Valorant EWC competition raked in an impressive 444,787 views.
A greater portion of fans opted to engage with streamers over the main broadcast during Valorant at the Esports World Cup.
Despite this trend in Valorant, other esports scenes are also witnessing increased resistance to watch parties and co-streaming of the event. In League of Legends, the reveal of a Caedrel EWC co-stream prompted a conflicted response from fans.
Valorant broadcast complaints post-tournament
Contributing to the lack of main broadcast support and viewership is broadcast quality. Viewers complained of missed engagement and fights. They also noticed higher ping for players than expected at a LAN tournament. Furthermore, the scheduling has been described as “inconvenient.”
EWC Valorant was also plagued by tech pauses throughout the tournament. One Semifinal tech pause even lasted for over two hours.
In this tech pause, the livestreamed broadcast cut out and lost audio. For half an hour, the broadcast was reduced to a black screen.
Overall, the quality of casting and observing was found by some to be “significantly worse than Masters Toronto,” perhaps widening the viewership divide.
Similar complaints have been voiced after the Apex Legends ALGS Midseason Playoffs at the Esports World Cup.
What comes next? Upcoming Valorant esports tournaments
Now that Valorant EWC competition has concluded, teams must refocus on regional VCT circuits. The Chinese VCT Stage 2 circuit started before the Esports World Cup and will resume on July 16th.
Alongside the resumption of VCT China, VCT EMEA and Americas will begin on July 16th. The Pacific region’s VCT Stage 2 circuit begins the day before, on July 15th.
The Regional Stage 2 competition in the Valorant Champions Tour will be crucial for qualifying and seeding teams for the upcoming VCT Champions in Paris. As winners of the VCT Toronto Masters, PRX will likely be one of the favourites on Valorant betting sites to contend for the title.
Esports World Cup Valorant finalists FNATIC and Team Heretics will also be well-favoured to make their mark in France.
Nevertheless, the teams now return to fighting for regional supremacy.
Hannah is a writer specialising in the esports, gaming, and technology sectors. Working for outlets such as Dot Esports, Esports Insider, and of course ENUK, she has developed a love for wider esports and Apex Legends, although it may never surpass her drive to passionately beat her friends in every game of Mariokart. You may have seen her at various esports and gaming events, including ESI London, EGX, Discover: Esports and many League of Legends watch parties.