PGL major breaks opening day records with huge viewership

The first day of the biggest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major ever broke previous viewership records, already becoming one of the most-watched events in CSGO history.

Everyone had high expectations from CSGO’s first major in two years, but no one had expected the Challengers’ games to be such a hit. According to Esports Charts, streams from Day 1 hit over 667K viewers, breaking all previous records.

CSGO’s player base and popularity saw a significant slump after LAN events were shelved in 2020. The announcement of the PGL Stockholm major breathed new life into the scene, bringing the player base back up for the first time in over five months. Fans counted on the first day of the event to be huge, but the numbers recorded on streams shattered all expectations.

PGL Major Stockholm opens with hundreds of thousands of viewers

The PGL Major Stockholm 2021 kicked off on October 26. Over 667K viewers tuned in to watch the Challengers Stage day 1. The most popular game was between ENCE and FaZe Clan, hitting over 516.4K viewers. For the first day of a major, these numbers are enormous. The streams broke viewership records of BLAST Premier Global Final 2020, where 687.6K people were simultaneously watching the final between Natus Vincere and Vitality.

According to Esports Charts, no other major recorded such high numbers on its first day of play. The highest in the past was observed to be ELEAGUE Boston, where 526K viewers tuned in on the first day. The numbers are only expected to go up as the tournament progresses. Considering the record-breaking stats on day one, the PGL Stockholm major final is now likely to be the most-watched event in the history of CSGO.

So far, the event has included nail-biting games with the likes of Astralis struggling against supposedly lesser teams. The multiple-time major winners suffered a 0-2 record on the first day against Copenhagen Flames and Entropiq. FaZe and Copenhagen Flames are the first two teams to move on to the Legends stage, only add to the exciting story of the event.