IEM Katowice final breaks viewership record to become most watched non-free csgo cases

The final in Poland had a peak of 1.12 million people watching, according to Esports Charts.

The IEM Katowice 2022 grand final will be one to be remembered, as it delivered intense action despite being a 3-0 sweep by FaZe over G2. The two first maps, Inferno and Mirage, went to overtime — the latter five times —, before the series ended in a thirty round affair on Dust2.

The exciting grand final match in Katowice became the most viewed non-Major match in CS:GO history, breaking a new viewership record with 1.12 million people tuning in to watch the live broadcast.

IEM Katowice kicked 2022 off by breaking a viewership record

The final series was also notable for its many story lines playing out, as it became where Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen lifted a trophy at the Spodek Arena for the first time in his third grand final and where Helvijs "⁠broky⁠" Saukants earned his first MVP award.

Read more karrigan: "I rewatched the 2018 IEM Katowice final and told myself it’s not going to happen again"

The IEM Katowice 2022 grand final was also where Justin "⁠jks⁠" Savage, who is currently benched in Complexity, became the first Australian to win a Big Event. He did so as a stand-in, first for Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool in the play-in and first group stage match and then for Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard in the playoffs.

Read more jks: "I've been playing this event since 2015, so it's really nice just to win it"

This viewership record breaks a previous IEM Katowice record, set during IEM Katowice 2020, which was without a crowd due to the coronavirus pandemic and was the last event before the 2022 edition to be held at the Spodek Arena as the tournament had to be moved online in 2021. Back in 2020, the non-Major viewership peak record was set at 1 million viewers.

Read more PGL Major Stockholm breaks records with over 2.7 million concurrent viewers*

The 1.12 million viewing peak during the IEM Katowice 2022 final makes this the fifth highest event in CS:GO history in terms of peak viewership, trailing four Majors: IEM Katowice Major 2019, ELEAGUE Major 2018, ELEAGUE Major 2017 and the most recent Major, PGL Major Stockholm, where a staggering 2.7 million viewers tuned in to watch G2 lose a grand final — that time against the unstoppable Natus Vincere force with star player Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev at the helm.