TI 2026 qualifiers average 21% higher live viewership

The International 2026 regional qualifiers averaged 21.38% more live viewers across five regions compared with 2025. Total hours watched for the cycle rose 8.4% to 11.2 million, despite one fewer regional event after Europe’s two blocks were merged.

The consolidated Europe Regional Qualifier accounted for more than 57% of the overall watch time and produced the largest audience share of any region. The Europe event drew about 6.45 million hours watched and ranked among the six most-watched regional qualifiers in the tournament’s history. The merger of Western and Eastern Europe concentrated several high-profile regional matchups and lifted peak concurrent totals.

The cycle’s highest peak came during Europe’s Upper Bracket Round 3, where Team Spirit faced Nigma Galaxy and reached 216,692 peak viewers. That figure was slightly below the previous cycle’s Eastern Europe peak of 222,432. Europe was the most-watched regional qualifier since 2022.

North America recorded the weakest results, averaging 5,746 live viewers, a decline of more than 6,000 viewers from 2025. Southeast Asia, South America and China showed relative stability, with most metric changes within a 10% range; Southeast Asia was the only one of those three to post an increase in peak viewership.

China’s total watch time increased as the number of global channels carrying the Chinese qualifiers nearly doubled. Domestic streaming services remained the primary destinations for local audiences, with major platforms continuing to host most viewers while international channels became more available to a wider audience.

Platform preferences varied by region. Twitch was the dominant platform in Europe and North America. YouTube led in Southeast Asia. In South America, alternative platforms gained ground, with one newer service showing substantial growth and approaching parity with other streaming options for esports content.

The total number of unique broadcasting channels changed modestly, from 371 to 377. Sixteen teams qualified for The International 2026: Aurora, Team Falcons, Team Liquid, 1w Team, Xtreme Gaming, Team Yandex, Team Resilience, Team Spirit, Vici Gaming, OG, GamerLegion, LGD Gaming, PARIVISION, Nigma Galaxy, HULIGANI and BetBoom Team.

The next events on the calendar are the Esports World Cup 2026 in Paris from July 6 to 18 and The International 2026 in Shanghai from August 13 to 23. The International will carry a prize pool of $1.6 million, with playoff matches scheduled at the Oriental Sports Center, an 18,000-seat indoor arena.