Austin MRQ viewership way down compared to last RMR

According to data provided by Esports Charts, the Major Regional Qualifiers for the BLAST.tv Austin Major drew significantly less viewers compared to the RMRs for PW Shanghai.

The MRQs for Austin drew 169,974 peak viewers, and 4.154 million total hours watched. Compared to the PW Shanghai RMRs, peak viewership dropped by 68% while total hours watched dropped by 76.3%.

With the new qualifier system determined by Valve Regional Standings in place, the top-ranked teams in CS2 no longer have to attend the qualifiers. By Esports Charts' own rankings, the top five teams in total hours watched in 2024 (NAVI, G2, FaZe, Spirit, and Vitality) all skipped the MRQs.

Aside from a lack of top teams, Esports Charts also attributed the drop in viewership to the fact that the regional qualifiers were organized by studios other than BLAST, which led to viewer confusion. They also noted that co-streaming viewership declined sharply as well.

In addition to these viewership concerns, the European MRQ in particular drew complaints about using best-of-ones during the first few rounds of the Swiss stage. There was also a noticeable lack of excitement for the events given that they were online and not on LAN.