Ukrainians on top: NaVi has surpassed everyone in terms of watching matches in global eSports this summer - 18 million hours

The NaVi team has significantly outpaced its nearest rivals.

The Ukrainian esports organization Natus Vincere (NaVi) emerged as the global leader in terms of the hours watched for its matches during the summer of 2024. According to the analytics service Esports Charts, as reported by Forbes Ukraine, NaVi accumulated 18.3 million viewing hours from June to August. French team Team Vitality took second place with 16.1 million hours watched, while European team G2 rounded out the top three with 14.6 million hours.

Artem Odintsov, co-founder and CEO of Esports Charts, emphasized the uniqueness of this season for NaVi. He pointed out that the team's achievements were largely driven by their performances at the IEM Cologne and Esports World Cup tournaments. These two events accounted for over 60% of all viewership for NaVi's Counter-Strike 2 matches during the summer.

NaVi showcased remarkable results at international tournaments. The team finished second at IEM Cologne 2024 in Germany in August and triumphed at the Esports World Cup 2024 in July, which was funded by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.

NaVi's successes were not limited to the summer season. In April, the team became the first world champion in the game Counter-Strike 2, winning $500,000 in prize money at the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 tournament. Yaroslav Prytula, a commentator from the Maincast studio, termed this event historic, as it was the inaugural World Championship for the new CS2 discipline.

Natus Vincere, founded in 2009, has become a leading esports organization in Ukraine. The team made history in 2010 by being the first to win three major global esports tournaments in a single year.

Source: Forbes