In our recent esports tier list, there were a few changes. Accordingly, one of these changes was the demotion of Hearthstone to a lower tier. As I explained in that article, the esport seems to be struggling at the moment – some might say that viewership is a factor. Read on to figure out whether Hearthstone Viewership is sinking or not.
Hearthstone Viewership – Moving to YouTube
This time last year, Blizzard Entertainment signed an exclusivity deal with YouTube gaming for esports coverage. This meant that all Overwatch, Call of Duty and Hearthstone, amongst others, would be broadcasted exclusively over other sites such as Twitch. As of right now, the former two shooters seem to be unaffected.
However, it seems that Hearthstone took a big hit moving to YouTube – here are some statistics for you to digest. Below, I’ll be presenting viewership details for two events prior to the Youtube deal, and two events after:
Pre-YouTube Deal
Masters Tour 2019 Las Vegas
- Peak viewers – 76,944
- Average viewers – 50,851
Masters Tour 2019 Seoul
- Peak viewers – 86,035
- Average viewers – 45,843
Post-YouTube Deal
Masters Tour 2020 Madrid
- Peak viewers – 13,187
- Average viewers – 9,018
Masters Tour 2021 Ironforge
- Peak viewers – 11,527
- Average viewers – 7,525
What I can confidently say, is that the numbers are nowhere near that of a couple years ago – and this is incredibly worrisome for the livelihood of the esport. Yet, I really don’t think it’s due to the exclusivity deal due to the success other esports have found – let’s dig deeper.
More To The Loss – Could it be Online?
The next possible reason is the fact that another change which occurred was the move to online events. Yet, once again, I believe this really isn’t the case. Overall, Hearthstone Viewership is not due to the insanity of a present crowd, but rather to enjoy a sophisticated game of card-dealing action.
While yes, some viewers may have been dissuaded by the lack of an arena, I don’t think it is the cause for such a drastic loss in viewership for these $250,000 events. When I say ‘$250,000’, I’m referring to the modern Masters Tour – noting that in the past, these events would support a prize pool of $500,000.
This leads me to what I believe is the problem.
Activision Blizzard – Not Providing Support?
Indeed, the only finger left to point is towards the developers. Hearthstone Viewership is definitely their responsibility and likely, their goal.
Yet, as we learnt earlier this year, Blizzard publicly cut off much of their esports staff. Bearing this in mind, the YouTube channels for the events have been suffering, where only one broadcast of one language (English) is being offered to viewers unlike previously.
This is a major problem. Officially, the CIS region is quite massive for the esport. According to a recent report by escharts, the last Hearthstone World Cup enjoyed the majority of viewers from this region. I believe this can easily be fixed by supporting this region with appropriate broadcasts.
Hearthstone Viewership – Only the Beginning of the Season
The basis of this event is on the back of how poorly viewership was for the first event of the year – the Ironforge event. However, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s still the beginning of the season. Perhaps as the season progresses and picks up steam, together with a new Russian stream – Hearthstone Viewership could be back where it left off.
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