Challengers’ audience outnumbers two VCT regions in terms of viewership. By ranking its league as the second most watched VALORANT competition in 2023, Japan is asserting its importance within the shooter.
In recent years, several countries that were initially not so favored have greatly impacted the VALORANT competitive scene. One of these countries is Japan. However, the ecosystem in the region took a big boost thanks to ZETA DIVISION’s third position in the 2022 Master.
Consequently, the shooter currently moves a large social mass within the Asian country, and the audience numbers demonstrate this. Furthermore, according to data published by Esports Charts, Challengers Japan’s league outperformed the Champions Tour in the Pacific and EMEA.
Challengers’ audience outperforms two VCT regions in terms of viewership
According to data compiled by Esports Charts, Challengers Japan has had 9,169,624 hours of video played. The tournament held in the Japanese region exceeds the viewing time of the highest-level tournament in Europe and the Pacific.
The Pacific VCT had 8,772,894 hours viewed, while the EMEA VCT had 8,612,030 hours viewed. However, if we talk about peak viewership, for Japan, the number is lower than in these two regions. For Japan, the highest peak viewership was 160,740, while for EMEA, it was 288,816, and for the Pacific, 336,722.
However, Japan’s presence also impacts TVC’s audiences in the Pacific. It is important to comment that ZETA DIVISION is the protagonist of three of the five games that have received the most attention so far in the area. The peak of 336,722 viewers watching the match came against Indian representative Global Esports.
In contrast, for the Challengers League, the most-watched match is the game played by Crazy Raccoon, the defending champion of the first season.
Japan is awaiting the Master
In the past, Riot Games had already recognized the strength that VALORANT has in the Asian country. However, now with the impressive audience numbers of this year’s Challengers Japan, it has become clear how popular the game is in Japan.
So, the 2023 Masters will take place in Tokyo at the Makuhari Messe and the Dome Chiba. The first stadium has a capacity of 4,000 people, and the second has a capacity of 2,000 people.
The tournament will be held from June 11 to July 25 and will see great teams fighting for the coveted title of champions. So far, the only qualifier is Fnatic; the team got its place by winning the LOCK//IN. On the other hand, it is confirmed that China will have two exclusive spots.