The grand finals of the fourth season of the ESL Pro League were held last weekend at the sold out Ginasio do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Over 6000 fans attended each of the event days, cheering for their local heroes, SK Gaming, who powered through to the final but ultimately lost to North American team Cloud9.

The finals achieved an impressive 18% increase in the total number of sessions over last season, with a 13% increase in the number of hours watched. The event clocked above 15 million views, with the peak concurrent viewership reaching over 400,000 viewers. Overall, close to 5 million hours of content was consumed by the online audience. The finals also recorded a remarkable engagement on social media, securing over 74 million impressions on Facebook and Twitter, with the engagement passing the 12 million mark.

“Sao Paulo provided an impressive backdrop and a highly enthusiastic audience for a final that yielded some stunning matches. Our global audience continues to grow and consume more of our content every year, and we saw almost 4 million people tune in from Brazil for the finals. That’s a result we’re incredibly proud of“, commented Ulrich Schulze, Vice President Pro Gaming at ESL.

The next opportunity to see the world’s best CS:GO teams will be November 19-20 at IEM Oakland. Please visit the official event website (www.iemoakland.com) for more information about the event, teams and press accreditation.

About ESL

ESL, a part of international digital entertainment group MTG, is the world’s largest esports company, leading the industry across the most popular video games with numerous online and offline competitions. It operates high profile, branded international and national leagues and tournaments such as the Intel® Extreme Masters, ESL One, ESL National Championships and other top tier stadium-size events, as well as grassroots amateur cups, leagues and matchmaking systems. ESL covers a broad field of services in gaming technology, event management, advertising and television production, fully catering to the needs of the esports ecosystem. With offices in North America, Germany, Russia, France, Poland, Spain, China, and partners in many other countries, it has a truly global footprint. www.eslgaming.com

Source: Press release

Image sources: eslgaming.com, Photographer: Helena Kristiannson