VCT NA Challengers Finals see lower viewership averages and peaks but still dominant co-streams

The VALORANT Champions Tour NA Challengers Finals saw a decrease in average viewers, as well as lower viewership peaks and total viewers, compared to Masters One at the end of March. In addition, the peaks and averages took a dip on the day of the grand finals (Sunday, May 2) compared to the Masters Two qualification day on May 1.

Saturday, May 1 was arguably the most important day of the tournament, with the matches that day determining who would advance to the Masters Two LAN in Iceland. Between the official VALORANT Twitch channel and the organizer NerdStGamers channel, the NA event averaged 34,466 viewers and peaked at 61,432 viewers on May 1, according to SullyGnome. The long day of VALORANT action produced 308,450 hours of content watched.

The following day, the grand finals of the Challengers Finals saw Sentinels take on Version1. Compared to the day prior, the official streams produced a higher average viewership of 40,586 viewers, despite a lower peak of 55,633. The higher average viewership compared to May 1 is actually surprising considering the inclusion of a more unknown team in Version1, a rather uncompetitive series (3-0 in favor of Sentinels), and a lack of high stakes with both teams already qualified for Masters.

Both sets of numbers, however, are a drop compared to the final day of Masters One. The grand finals that pitted Sentinels against FaZe Clan saw an average of 48,224 viewers and a peak of 66,410 viewers on the official streams. The increase in viewership can be attributed to the inclusion of a big name like FaZe Clan (who were also the talk of NA at the time), higher stakes with more VCT points on the line, and the fact that it was an anticipated rematch. Considering all these factors, the slight drop in viewership when you compare both sets of grand finals isn’t that surprising or concerning.

But the biggest VCT streams this weekend weren’t the official streams. They were the co-streams. In particular, shroud’s metrics outperformed the combined official streams all weekend. Shroud averaged 59,639 viewers across the three Saturday matches and peaked at 92,642 viewers. He produced 527,316 hours of watched content. On grand finals Sunday, he averaged 48,230 viewers and peaked at 67,859. While the official streams saw an increase in average and a slight decrease in peak numbers between Saturday and Sunday, both metrics for shroud drastically dipped. But he still outperformed the official streams in both categories.

Shroud was the most-viewed VCT co-streamer, but he wasn’t alone. Both 100 Thieves’ kyedae and TSM’s Myth streamed the events this weekend.

With the addition of more co-streamers and international competition for Masters Two, expect VCT viewership to rise when LAN competition makes its debut later this month.

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