Stage 3 Major sets new audience records for Call of Duty League

Is it all the rumor mill and spectacle that Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard is generating? Or could it be that they have really hit the key? The fact is that the Call of Duty League seems to be carbureting at the audience level, which we are glad about.

The Call of Duty League 2023: Stage 3 Major wrapped up this week with local favorite OpTic Texas falling to the Toronto Ultra in a thrilling grand finale. History was made at the tournament, held at the Esports Stadium Arlingtonsince it became the most watched CDL event (by Peak Viewers and Viewing Hours) since its inception in 2020also surpassing any previous format.

With their win, the Toronto Ultra took home $200,000 and 65 CDL points, while the runners-up pocketed $120,000 and 50 CDL points. Atlanta FaZe, who finished third, received $80,000 and 40 CDL points, with Boston Breach in fourth, receiving $40,000 and 30 CDL points.

The third major of 2023 recorded 335K Peak Viewersa new record for the discipline’s esports scene, while the count of 5.5M Viewing Hours it also sets a new brand. Such has been the success of the competition, that these stats even surpass the full viewing time of the CWL Pro League 2019 Regular Season, which had seven times the Airtime!

Call of Duty League 2023: Stage 3 Major had a broadcast time of 31 h 45 min and he did 175,000 average viewers, another record number for Call of Duty esports. The best team, no surprises, was the host OpTic Texas, who enjoyed 3.1 million Viewing Hoursand the team appeared in four of the top five matches in terms of Peak Viewers.

The most watched match of the tournament was the lower group final between OpTic Texas and Atlanta FaZe, which was won by the former 3:1. The final match was the second most watched matchup, nearly surpassing the rivalry between FaZe and OpTic with 334K Peak Viewers.

What was impressive and encouraging was that community casting played a big role in helping the Call of Duty League 2023: Stage 3 Major reach record numbers. It wouldn’t have been possible for just the main CDL channel to record such statistics, and that’s where these unofficial channels play an important role.

Compared to the same event in 2021 and 2022, the CDL’s official channel registered only 41.4% of the general figures for Hours of Viewing (in those years, 100%). While the streaming platforms may have changed, it’s still a huge gap and shows how vital the contributions of other unofficial channels are to achieving these record-breaking statistics. Just under 50 channels covered the event, including big names like methodz.

The OpTic Texas star turned pro streamer contributed slightly more to overall viewership for the Call of Duty League 2023: Stage 3 Major than the official Call of Duty Twitch channel did during qualifiers. He also did well during the main rounds, although not with the same level of success.

In terms of the most popular streamers on Twitch, scump ranked well above with 176K PV, followed by the official CDL Twitch channel with 136K PV. FaZe Clan’s ZooMaa, another retired CoD pro turned content creator, rounded out the podium with 27K PV.

However, the most viewed channel was CoD Official on Twitch with 2.6M Viewing Hours, followed by Scump with 2.3M. ZooMaa was again third, posting 408K as his team made it all the way to third in the event.