CDL Champs 2022 drew CoD’s best viewership since 2020 Modern Warfare season

The Call of Duty League Championship Weekend took place from August 4-7 and, with LA Thieves beating Atlanta FaZe in the grand final, the tournament hit Call of Duty esports’ highest peak viewership in almost two years.

With LA Thieves pulling off a formidable turnaround in their season’s fortunes, they became the only team to win multiple champions in Call of Duty: Vanguard, going back-to-back at Major 4 and Championship Weekend.

While players and viewers had both shared criticisms of Vanguard throughout the year, they turned out in droves to catch the crowning event at the end of the season, smashing all season-long viewership records and achieving the highest peak viewership numbers in the CDL in around two years.

According to statistics from Esports Charts, CDL Champs 2022 had a peak viewership of 275,244, far above and beyond the ~150k that both Major 1 and Major 4 reached.

The last time the CDL reached a viewership of that number was the 2020 CoD League Finals, which hit over 331,000 viewers as Dallas Empire and Atlanta FaZe battled it out for the top spot.

For comparison, the 2021 Call of Duty Championship reached a little under 240k peak viewers, showing a decent growth over the year.

On the other hand, though, the 2018 world championship wasn’t far off 2020’s viewership with 324k at its peak, so there’s still some growth to be had before the franchise reaches the numbers of yesteryear.

Expectations are high for Modern Warfare 2 and, if it can replicate the casual popularity of its namesake and the competitive interest of Modern Warfare 2019, we may well see a boom period for the CDL next year.