Dota 2: Despite much lower prize pool, TI 2023's Group Stage draws more viewers than last year
While TI 2023's low prize pool may have reduced the prestige of this year's event, the excellent competition seems to have more than made up for the hype.
The International (TI) 2023, this year's Dota 2 world championship tournament, recently concluded the Group Stage of its preliminary Road to The International phase. And despite this year's tournament having a historically low prize pool, data from esports analytics service Esports Charts indicates that the Group Stage garnered more viewers than last year.
According to Esports Charts, TI 2023's Group Stage had a peak viewership of over 748,000 across all official Twitch and YouTube broadcasts. TI 2022's Group Stage peaked at less than 700,000 viewers.
That viewership peak was reached in the match between TI 2021 champions Team Spirit and North American powerhouse Shopify Rebellion in the second phase of the Group Stage, where Spirit soundly swept Shopify Rebellion to secure an upper bracket berth in the Playoffs and continue its perfect 10-0 start in the tournament.
TI 2023's Group Stage attracting more viewers than last year may be a suprise to some when considering the tournament's historically low prize pool. According to the Dota 2 prize pool tracker, TI 2023's prize pool currently sits at just over US$3 million.
For comparison, TI 2022 had a US$18 million prize pool while TI 2021 had a whopping US$40 million pot, the largest prize pool for a single tournament in all of esports.
TI 2023's US$3 million prize pool is notably set to be the lowest prize pool for the tournament since its 2013 edition, which had a US$2.8 million pot.
While TI 2023's low prize pool may have reduced the prestige of this year's event, the excellent competition seems to have more than made up for the hype.
The Group Stage has already seen two massive upsets, first with Southeast Asia's Talon Esports defeating three-time Major champions Gaimin Gladiators followed by North America's Nouns Esports knocking defending champions Tundra Esports down to the lower bracket.
Many also expected Western Europe to dominate this year's tournament as it had the entirety of the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season.
However, only one out of the five Western European teams in TI 2023, namely Team Liquid, was able to make the upper bracket in the Playoffs. Gaimin Gladiators, Tundra Esports, and Entity will be starting in the lower bracket while PSG.Quest failed to make it out of phase one of the Group Stage altogether.
For many viewers who were expecting the rather dull outcome of Western Europe dominating yet another tournament, the parity in TI 2023 so far certainly makes for a more interesting watch.
Russian is TI 2023's most popular language broadcast
TI 2023's Group Stage has also averaged just over 413,000 viewers. The most popular language stream so far has been the Russian broadcast, which has peaked at over 380,000 viewers. By comparison, the English broadcast's peak viewership was at 262,000 viewers.
The Russian broadcast's popularity can be attributed to the excellent performance of the Eastern European teams in TI 2023 so far.
Three of the four Eastern European squads in TI 2023 — Team Spirit, 9Pandas, and Virtus.pro — were able to claim upper bracket spots in the Playoffs. It is also worth noting that the one Eastern European team in the lower bracket, BetBoom Team, were knocked down there by 9Pandas.
Meanwhile, the comparatively lower peak for the English broadcast can also be attributed to the fact that TI 2023 being hosted in Seattle meant that most of the matches will be happening at a time when Dota 2's large Southeast Asian audience will be asleep.
With that said, the numbers reported by Esports Charts are very likely to be lower than the actual number.
Esports Charts' data does not include the official Chinese broadcasts, which should rival that of Eastern Europe's.
Unofficial community streams — like the one hosted by OG that features popular community figures like Johan "N0tail' Sundstein, Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski, and Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen — are also not counted, which should contribute a significant chunk of viewership.
TI 2023's promising Group Stage viewership bodes well for the rest of the tournament, which will feature two more stages and a live audience.
The Road to The International Playoffs will take place from 20 to 22 October in the Seattle Convention Center's Summit. It will feature the 16 teams that made it out of the Group Stage fighting to be among the eight teams making it to The International proper.
Here are the tentative matchups for the Road to The International Playoffs:
Upper bracket quarterfinals:
Team Spirit vs Virtus.pro
Team Liquid vs Talon Esports
LGD Gaming vs 9Pandas
Nouns Esports vs Azure Ray
Lower bracket round 1:
Shopify Rebellion vs TSM
Evil Geniuses vs Gaimin Gladiators
Vivo Keyd Stars vs BetBoom Team
Tundra Esports vs Entity
On 20 October, the eight upper bracket teams will face off in four best-of-three matches. The four winning teams will advance to the upper bracket of The International itself while losing teams will have to continue fighting in the lower bracket of the Playoffs.
The lower bracket of the Playoffs will be played from 21 to 22 October, featuring 12 teams pitted in eight best-of-three matches. Eight teams will be eliminated in this stage while four teams will advance to the lower bracket of The International proper.
The Top 8 teams in the Road to The International Playoffs will then advance to The International Main Event, which will be hosted in the Climate Pledge Arena from 27 to 29 October.
For everything you need to know about TI 2023, check here.
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