Overwatch League Viewership Still Seems to be Declining

Overwatch League viewership continues to decline as the league moved into the fourth and final stage of the regular season.

According to a report from the Esports Observer, the first week of the final stage of the league once again saw lower viewership than week one of the previous stage.

The numbers correspond to a general downward trend in viewership, as each stage is viewed less on average than the stage that came before.

Presenting viewership figures from the three Twitch streams, which broadcast the league in English, French, and Korean, the Esports Observer report highlighted that both the average viewership for the first week dropped, to 113K compared to Stage 3’s 133K, and the week hit a lower peak at 122K versus the 163K peak in Stage 3’s opening week.

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The report also concluded that the gap between New York Excelsior and the rest of the league seems to be reducing interest in their games, with the Excelsior already guaranteed a spot in the playoffs and looking almost certain of taking the top seed.

The league has undoubtedly blown away expectations for the inaugural season in terms of viewership, with none predicting the average viewership would be so high. To put the figures into context, LA Valiant CEO Noah Winston stated before the league that he would be happy with 30k-40k average for season one.

That being said, the downward trend is potentially something of a concern, albeit a minor one for now. The Overwatch League is very clearly a long-term project, and so no metric will show that the league has “succeeded” within the first season, but a negative trend rather than a positive one hints at some of the challenges the league still has to overcome.