More Positive Viewership Numbers for the Overwatch League

The Overwatch League Viewership Soars to New Highs

If viewership hasn’t been much of a concern to the Overwatch League before, the latest results suggest that Blizzard and Activision have worked hard in the opposite direction. Viewership numbers are up, and this is mostly thanks to a change in format and a welcome change at that. Just like a casino player would look for the best promotion with a powerful tool such as casino bonuses finder, so Blizzard has decided to take a look at the Overwatch format and perhaps improve a few things.

Viewership for the OWL on the Rise

YouTube has seen substantial growth in viewership numbers thanks to the Overwatch League’s decision to move to monthly tournaments. Statistics have backed up what originally Blizzard only suspected, but is now true.

Last weekend’s Summer Showdown tournament proved to be a smart move on the part of the company, being able to rally huge support behind itself and see high numbers of people tuning in to watch.

Weekly tournaments have allowed the community to feel more involved, too, and avoid waiting for big breaks between individual competitions. While the OWL wanted to change the format of esports completely with in-person attendance, Blizzard is coming to realize that the time-tested formula of remote play is still valid and it guarantees great results at a fraction of the cost.

Yet, the League is not going to give up on land-based events, too. However, the event managed to draw in 54,000 average minute audience or a 5% jump from Week 21 in the competition. The double token promotion for viewers did help excite interest and spread the word.

The Semi-finals Lead to a Peak in Viewership

Naturally, the semi-finals game between the San Francisco Shock and the Paris Eternal saw the biggest increase in viewership, which is natural, as it highlighted the most contentious point in the weekly competition.

Of course, the overall increase can be chalked up to some things that lie beyond the reach of Blizzard right now. For example, fans are excited to see new formats being experimented with, giving them some reason to hope that OWL interest may be resuscitated.

In fairness, though, the OWL hasn’t lost much of its viewership. If anything, the league has been very consistent in keeping a loyal viewership and offering awesome spectacles whether they are held offline or online.

The new tournament model that will serve the OWL in the better part of 2020 is designed by Jon Spector who is the vice president of the Overwatch League. According to him, Blizzard is looking to find a way that would allow spectators to feel more involved.

Spector wants to find a way to combine both in-person attendance, but also create more accessible products that fans and players from around the world can enjoy in the form of online matches

The move may have worked because viewership is slowly, but steadily going up, offering true fans an experience that makes them feel like a part of the OWL community. Of course, for the OWL to be able to gauge the efficiency of the new format, Blizzard will have to continue running the present format in a bid to collect enough big data.

The Overwatch League is taking a break until July 17 when it will restart once again with the same fan-focused approach. A 5% increase in the overall viewership week-to-week isn’t too much right now, but the numbers may increase further.

The issue with Overwatch might be its localized nature. The companies behind the game are finally pushing away from this model though and re-directing their efforts into making OWL a more accessible product to the viewers.

The expected upshot is not just more raw numbers, but also the ability to scale the Overwatch esports ecosystem and allow players and fans from all over the world to enjoy themselves.