Esport: 1 of 10 Danes have watched Counter-Strike on linear TV over the past 14 days

One ambition behind establishing the BLAST Pro Series is to reach a wider and more mainstream audience while still catering for the hardcore Counter-Strike fan. 

BLAST Pro Series has a full focus on engaging, intelligent, high-energy audience entertainment, live and on stream. The format includes 6 world class teams together on stage with a new and easy to understand HUD (head-up display), viewing angles, intelligent and entertaining use of statistics to support the storyline and the constant excitement of multiple decisive matches being played simultaneously.  

Broadcasters are equipped with a full package of graphics and a range of explanatory content produced to bring the newer viewer closer to the game, teams and players, and to give the more experienced fan more in-depth information and analysis.

10% of all Danes watched Counter-Stike

According to DR Medieforskning (Denmark's Radio's Media Research Department), over the past two weeks 540.000 Danes watched BLAST Pro Series and ESL Pro League on DR3's flow TV channel. On top of this, in Denmark one or both tournaments were streamed live on dr.dk, Twitch, and bt.dk, adding signigicantly to the total number of people in Denmark watching Counter-Strike.

In Royal Arena 12.000 spectators watched BLAST Pro Series live while 5.000 spectators in Sparkassen Fyn Arena watched the Sunday Final of ESL Pro League. 

Based upon above numbers, a very conservative estimate suggests that more than 1 in 10 people in Denmark have watched at least some Counter-Strike over the past two weeks with BLAST Pro Series as the main contributor. 

The average time spent by each viewer on the broadcast is one hour and 13 minutes!

DR Medieforskning tweeted about the numbers:

Globally, BLAST Pro Series  reached millions of viewers. 

Recap of facts and numbers below, taken from full story: Flow TV records while millions watched online!

Flow TV embraces esport

• BLAST Pro Series, Copenhagen was broadcast on 15 channels in nearly 80 countries and territories.
• With broadcasts on 5 continents the event was truly a global event on tv as well as online.
• 275 million (updated) households had the opportunity to tune into the action from Copenhagen's Royal Arena

Danish DR3 TV smashed own records

In Denmark, home of Astralis, North and host to the World Premiere of the tournament, national channel DR3 had it's best day ever and two records were smashed:

• Largest share of viewers in the target group 15-39 year olds: 14.8 percent
• Largest share of male viewers in the target group: 19.8 percent

These numbers positions BLAST Pro Series on top of the all time list which includes coverage of the Olympic Games in Rio, all X Games episodes, the DR3 Eurovision show to name a few.

Online: Twitch reached millions

• 2.5 million unique viewers on 20 Twitch channels in 16 different languages.
• Most watched channel was the official BLAST Pro Series channel with more than 50% of the viewers.
• Peak concurrent online views during the final was 392,000
• 117 million minutes watched - the equivalent of watching Justice League 972.800 times in a row
• 816.000 comments on twitch - 651.000 on Saturday alone

China is rising

Counter-Strike in China is on the rise, and it has been reported that BLAST Pro Series, Copenhagen, was viewed by 2.4 million unique viewers online in China. The numbers have yet to be verified.

Social Media Frenzy

All players and teams communicated actively throughout the tournament via their Social Media Channels. With 25 million followers across the teams' and players' Social Media platforms, the total reach of BLAST Pro Series was astronomical.

Across BLAST Social Media channels, the total impressions and reach was just above 60 million. Impressive numbers for channels that were only launched up to the tournament.

BLAST Pro Series will take the event on the road in 2018, where 3-5 events will be held in major international cities across the globe.

BLAST Pro Series is developed, owned and operated by RFRSH Entertainment. The tournament is a new breed of esports live entertainment aimed at hardcore fans as well as the main stream audience. The event itself is a one day experience with 6 world class teams live on stage, battling it out in front of packed arenas in major host cities. During the Launch Season (over the coming 15 months) a total of 6 events will be hosted across the globe. BLAST Pro Series is a circuit of annually recurring events crowning their own champion in each city. The BLAST Pro Series events are executed in a global recognizable and easy to consume 1 ½ day format with great possibility of creating a “local” flavor for each individual host city.