PGL Major Stockholm breaks records with over 2.7 million concurrent viewers

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The grand final between Natus Vincere and G2 blazed past prior records by over a million viewers.

Update:Esports Charts have updated their analysis of the PGL Major Stockholm grand final peak viewership, which now totals nearly 2.75 million after including numbers from some community streams.

PGL Major Stockholm came to an end on Sunday, culminating with a thrilling double overtime affair on Nuke where Natus Vincere fought back from a deficit to emerge victorious over G2, securing a 2-0 series victory to take home the first Major trophy in over two years.

The matchup shattered the ceiling on peak viewership in CS:GO, topping out at 2.57 million concurrent viewers — not including Chinese platforms — according to analytical agency Esports Charts. Earlier matches in the playoffs also consistently broke records from previous events, leaving PGL Major Stockholm holding four of the top five spots for the highest concurrent viewers among Counter-Strike events.

The Stockholm Major broke records while housing a 16,000-strong crowd

Prior records were held by ELEAGUE Major Atlanta 2017 and ELEAGUE Major Boston 2018, which topped out during their grand finals at 1.331 million and 1.329 million viewers, respectively. Neither tournament had any of their matches prior to the grand final break through the 1 million viewer threshold.

The top five matches for peak viewership at PGL Major Stockholm were:

1. Natus Vincere vs. G2 - Grand Final - 2,569,841 viewers
2. Gambit vs. Natus Vincere - Semi-final - 1,444,422 viewers
3. G2 vs. HEROIC - Semi-final - 1,405,440 viewers
4. Natus Vincere vs. Vitality - Quarter-final - 1,381,277 viewers
5. Gambit vs. FURIA - Quarter-final - 1,207,348 viewers

PGL Major Stockholm enjoyed consistently strong viewership during the arena matches, with the English and Russian language streams combining to make up the majority of viewers. According to Esports Charts, the English stream peaked above 954,000 viewers during the grand final, while the Russian stream edged slightly higher at 967,000. The Brazilian broadcast also boasted strong numbers during the event, especially in FURIA's quarter-final bid against Gambit on Friday.

The combined viewership helped CS:GO claim a spot in the top five most watched categories on Twitch, surpassing VALORANT as well as the record set by Dota 2's The International 10, which concluded on October 18.

With PGL Stockholm Major coming to an end, renewed interest in CS:GO paints a promising picture, especially with the return of more stadium events. The BLAST Premier Fall Final will head to Copenhagen's Royal Arena later this month, with the first two days of the tournament being played behind closed doors from November 24-25 before opening its doors to a 12,000 seat stadium from November 26-28.

Vitality #3 Richard 'shox' PapillonDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' RabierJayson 'Kyojin' Nguyen Van HEROIC #5 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerIsmail 'refrezh' AliMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' Beck Gambit #4 Abay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinSergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov G2 #9 Audric 'JACKZ' JugNikola 'NiKo' KovačNemanja 'huNter-' KovačFrançois 'amanek' DelaunayNemanja 'nexa' Isaković FURIA #18 Andrei 'arT' PiovezanYuri 'yuurih' SantosVinicius 'VINI' FigueiredoKaike 'KSCERATO' CeratoAndré 'drop' Abreu Natus Vincere #1 Oleksandr 's1mple' KostylievDenis 'electroNic' SharipovKirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovIlya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyValeriy 'b1t' Vakhovskiy