Overwatch League viewership has continued to increase each week, a positive trend that many esports fans are pleasantly surprised by.





This year, more people are tuning in to watch the Overwatch League each week. The first season’s second week saw Twitch viewership increase from last year, with 160,000 concurrent viewers that weekend compared to last year’s 136,000 at the same point last year. This may not be the biggest leap, and certainly doesn’t appear newsworthy at first, but it’s an ongoing trend in Season 2 that proves OWL naysayers wrong.













With almost 5 million hours watched throughout that second weekend, it seems like Overwatch fans are more interested than ever in what the pros can accomplish this season.





This is a trend that has continued from Season Two’s opening week, which reported 13 million viewers, a 30 percent increase from last season’s finals, which was watched by almost 11 million people.





The Reasoning









Photo via Blizzard





Considering facts alone, the Overwatch League’s changed schedule may be the reason for this increase in views across English, Korean, and French Twitch channels. The league made major changes to match scheduling this year after many teams suffered from exhaustion and stress the first season. Now, matches are Thursday through Sunday, giving the pros (and viewers) a much-needed break from the OWL on Wednesday.





Additionally, Twitch is offering a lot more viewing options this year. This includes the introduction of alternate language channels—Portuguese and Russian, which have added about 10K views to the total each weekend. This has pushed the league’s total hours watched to over 5 million for the second week. Blizzard confirmed that the OWL is being broadcast in six languages, shown in 190 countries.





The addition of the All-Access Pass has also provided further viewing options for OWL fans. With the ability to watch from any player’s point of view throughout the match, the new and improved Command Center was definitely of interest to the league’s biggest fans. This came after the league was openly criticized in its first season for being confusing and difficult to follow.





The (Wrong) Prediction

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Photo via Blizzard





Over 200 million people tuned in for the League of Legends World Championship finals last year, setting a new esports viewing record. While this proved that esports do have the viewership to be taken seriously by mainstream culture, it left many gamers wondering if that doesn’t include every esport. And many looked to the Overwatch League with its 11 million finale viewers.





Going into its inaugural season, many investors seemed skeptical of the league, which was created from scratch by Blizzard after some failed Call of Duty ventures. They called it a passing fad, and many esports fans seemed to agree.





Even though people loved playing Overwatch, many people felt that viewing Overwatch was an entirely different experience. Many even called it unbearable to spectate, boring, and confusing. Since the game isn’t a standard FPS, or a MOBA that allows for consistent overhead viewing, many people new to Overwatch may not be able to follow what’s going on when the pros are seemingly all over the map - and the camera can only follow one of them.









Without the ability to view all of the action seamlessly and effectively, many dismissed the Overwatch League as something destined to fail.





“I can’t get into spectating this game,” said the Esports Observer’s Thiemo Brautigam, echoing other viewers sentiments at the time. “For me, it’s just a myriad of colors and visual effects popping up constantly. The ultra-fast gameplay and hectic movements don’t make it any easier, and even the best commentators in esports can’t keep pace with the permanent action.”





In a game like Call of Duty, viewers understand that shooting is good. Headshots are better. And killing is best. But in a game like Overwatch, the heroes’ unique abilities can be hard to understand on stream, especially when getting kills is not every player’s priority. Why is D.Va shooting from atop that ledge when her weapon does so little damage from afar? Why is that Lucio all the way over there, grinding on walls on the outside of the point? Even though the pros have high-level strategies at play, it doesn’t always seem apparent to viewers, and it can be difficult to follow.





For these reasons, esports publications and esports analysts spent the majority of 2018 discussing how the Overwatch League would get even less views going into Season 2.





But with eight new expansion teams to watch, new players to root for, and new viewing options to explore, Blizzard has proven they’re only learning and improving. The league is only getting bigger.





Next year, the OWL will add in home games, making the traditional sports-inspired league even more appealing to people living all over the world. It’s hard to predict what lies ahead, but if it’s anything like the trends taking place now, the OWL is not going anywhere any time soon. Well, except wherever the arenas are, of course.