We've asked ourselves: how strongly prize pools affect the size of the audiences attracted. In today's article, we will try to answer this question and figure out who has advanced the most in this trend.

We didn’t take figures from Chinese platforms into account. We also didn’t consider the results of qualifications. However, complex events such as Fortnite World Cup Finals were included, even though it included different tournaments. On the other hand, there is no Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am at the top because it is a show event, although it takes sixth place in the rating by the size of the prize pool.

We want to note that the League of Legends World Championship does not announce the full prize pool of the tournament, as it increases from in-game purchases. The developers of the game haven’t announced the overall prize pool of the tournament this year. For example, last year it was a bit more than 6 million US dollars.

Let’s take a look at the peak rating of the broadcast in the first place. In this case, the 2019 LoL World Championship has the greatest value, since its maximum has almost reached 4 million spectators with a prize pool of 2 million 225 thousand US dollars. The viewer/money ratio is 1.7.

Meanwhile, the “biggest prize-pool” esports tournament The International received a ratio of 0.057. The viewership number reached 1 million 968 thousand people at the peak, while the amount of money in the prize pool was 34 million dollars.

The lowest viewer/money ratio was achieved at Fortnite Champion Series Season X with a figure of 0.025. Its peak collected 102 thousand viewers, despite the impressive total prize pool of more than $4 million.

The results of the Overwatch League are particularly interesting. Despite the fact that participation in the league costs tens of millions of dollars, its finals gathered only 318 thousand people, whereas the prize pool of the event was 3.5 million dollars. The conclusion is obvious - results bypass some competitors of the discipline, but they still could’ve been better.

If you look at the average number of viewers, then you can see LoL Worlds at the very top again. The ratio of viewers to money is 0.45. The tournament was broadcast 136 hours and its average number of observers exceeded 1 million people.

For The International, the ratio of average viewers to money was 0.021. For the Fortnite World Cup, this figure has already reached 0.037. The smallest indicator was marked by the CWL Pro League 2019. For 22 thousand viewers, it was 2 million 400 thousand dollars, and the ratio of the two indicators was 0.009.

However, we can outline The Six Invitational 2019. The Rainbow Six Siege tournament with its 2 million prize pool received an average number of 118 thousand viewers. This is the 3rd result viewer/money ratio list. Only Worlds 2019 and TwitchCon 2019 Fortnite are ahead.

The final part will be the rating by Hours Watched. LoL Worlds 2019 has achieved the best ratio once again, but now the HW/money one. The result of the main tournament of the year was 61.9. For example, the nearest competitor to the event The International has a figure of 2.5. Fortnite Champion Series Season X received the least. Its result was 0.29.

Two tournaments with a common prize formation system can also be distinguished from the entire list: The International and PUBG Global Championship 2019. Both events received a huge amount of money from in-game purchases. Valve raised more than $30 million due to Dota 2 in-game purchases, while PUBG made more than $4 million. Unfortunately, we have to say that both events are pretty far away from the most positive results of other tournaments.

As a result, the League of Legends World Championship has the most balanced prize pool. Despite the fact that the event gives away only $2 million, its broadcasts are incredibly successful. On the other hand, Fortnite Champion Series performed negatively. The tenth season received a little more than $4 million in the prize pool, but after the Fortnite World Cup, the audience was not very interested in this championship.