IEM Rio 2022 kicks off with best opening viewership in CS:GO Major history

The IEM Rio Major 2022 began on October 31 featuring one of the biggest CS:GO crowds in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. The Major's Challengers Stage features 16 top-tier teams competing against each other for eight slots in the Legends Stage. The winner of the tournament will be a part of the lion's share prize pool of $1.25 million.

Fans have been eagerly waiting for the Major for almost two years. This Major was supposed to be held back in 2020, but due to Covid-19, fans were left unentertained for a long period of time. The wait made the Major even more exciting than fans would have imagined. On the first day of the IEM Rio Major 2022, something rather special happened regarding the views of the tournament.

Fans have proven their love for Counter Strike as the IEM Rio began with the best opening viewership in CS:GO Major history.

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IEM Rio Major 2022 views prove how much fans love CS:GO

Round 1 of the Challengers Stage began with all 16 teams going against each other on Day 1. Mouz, BNE, OG, BIG, EG, Vitality, GL, and Fnatic suffered their first loss but quickly retaliated, maintaining a winning posture. Unfortunately, for teams like IHC Esports, Imperial Esports, and Cloud9, things were not that great.

IEM Rio 2022 has drawn almost 458K average viewers with a broadcast of over 6.6 million hours watched. During the matchups between Team Vitality vs. Imperial and Fnatic vs. Cloud9, the peak viewership reached over 740K views. With the Major being held in Brazil, the native team getting these views is rather phenomenal.

The game between Vitality and Imperial ended up becoming the most popular matchup of the day. Imperial was easily the most popular team on Day 1 considering the Brazilian audience was cheering loudly for their players and the team competing on home soil.

As many CS:GO fans would wonder, English is the most popular brodcast language for the tournament with a contribution of more than 43% of the IEM Major 2022 on Day 1. The Portugese-language broadcast also contributed to second place with 39% and lastly Russian-language with a contribution of 7%.

These statistics declare that the IEM Rio Major 2022 is undoubtedly one of the biggest CS:GO Majors to date. Fans have been insanely obsessed over the fact that this tournament is being held after such a long period of time.

CS:GO's IEM Rio Major 2022 has surpassed PGL Major Antwerp 2022 in terms of opening viewership in a heartbeat. Furthermore, the current Major also surpasses all other Major Challenger Stage's peak viewership.

With the grand opening of the Rio Major, it can be expected that the tournament will reach further heights in terms of viewership as the final days approach closer. Fans have been patiently waiting for this extremely special event to come around.

While Rio may not end up as one of the most popular Majors in:GO history, one can certainly expect it to stay on the list of the most memorable ones.