The first event of the newly franchised Call of Duty League took place from Jan. 24 to 26. Activision Blizzard struck a multiyear partnership with YouTube to see the CDL stream exclusively on YouTube rather than Twitch for the first time. This deal with YouTube as well as the franchised model aimed to gain new viewers. However, the viewership figures were ultimately typical of a Call of Duty event. This is evident in the information provided by Esports Charts.
The most viewed games
Optic Gaming was the team that had dominated the viewership figures for multiple consecutive years. Now, this has changed, as the two most-viewed games were Chicago Huntsmen matches. The change in viewership could be due to numerous factors. For example, changes that occurred to the original Optic Gaming organization led popular figures such as Seth “Scump” Abner and former Optic member Matthew “FormaL” Piper to move to the Chicago Huntsmen. It was thought that a rivalry would be present between the new Optic Gaming Los Angeles and the Chicago Huntsmen. This led to their match being the highest-viewed match of the weekend, accumulating a total of 102,891 viewers.
The second highest-viewed match was the Chicago Huntsmen battling against the Dallas Empire. This match peaked at 85,701 viewers, and it was the first match of the CDL. With another rivalry present between the two teams, combined with the Chicago Huntsmen and Dallas Empire being teams at the top of the power rankings, it was a match that fans looked forward to.
Peak Viewers of 3rd day – 102k, @OpTicGaming vs @Huntsmen.
For today's second match, the number of viewers has grown by 92%. @Huntsmen has a large fan base )) @NRGgg https://t.co/snnPKGxwkK
— Esports Charts 🇺🇦 (@EsportsCharts) January 26, 2020
The next event of the Call of Duty League will take place on Feb. 8 to Feb. 9, hosted by the London Royal Ravens. As shown on the schedule, this event will feature the Chicago Huntsmen, Dallas Empire, Los Angeles Guerrillas, and Seattle Surge in Group A. Following this, the London Royal Ravens, New York Subliners, Paris Legion, and Toronto Ultra will feature in Group B.
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