ESL One Birmingham 2024 witnessed a surge in viewership during the Group Stage, largely attributed to Russian broadcasts. The stage concluded on April 24th, with 8 out of 12 teams advancing to the playoffs. Notably, the tournament experienced an 11% increase in average viewership compared to ESL One Kuala Lumpur.
In Group A, Team Falcons and BetBoom Team emerged as top contenders, securing upper bracket spots, while Team Liquid and G2 x iG landed in the lower bracket. Talon Esports and Shopify Rebellion were eliminated.
Group B saw OG and Tundra Esports claim top positions, with Xtreme Gaming and Heroic following closely. Surprisingly, strong teams like Team Spirit and Gaimin Gladiators were eliminated. Team Spirit notably drew all five series, losing only in three consecutive tiebreaker matches.
ESL One Birmingham 2024 Group Stage generated over 4.7 million Hours Watched, a nearly 40% increase from the previous tournament in Malaysia. Average viewership rose by 11%, and peak viewership surged by 38%.
Russian broadcasts experienced substantial growth, particularly on official channels, with no competition from popular community casters like Nix and Just_NS. With two top teams from the region and numerous Russian players in other clubs, Russian-speaking viewers had ample teams to support.
The most popular match of the group stage was between OG and Team Spirit, peaking at 127.2K viewers. Other notable matches included Team Spirit vs. Xtreme Gaming and BetBoom Team vs. G2.iG. Surprisingly, the top matches did not involve tiebreaker games, despite determining the teams' final placements.