ESL will stream its CS:GO tournaments on both Twitch and YouTube starting with the $1 million IEM Katowice this week, the tournament organizer announced today.
This change in broadcast approach comes after the exclusivity deal that ESL and DreamHack had with Twitch ran out. The deal was non-exclusive during 2020, but all the official English broadcasts ESL had in place for CS:GO tournaments had to be streamed only on Twitch during 2021 and 2022. The tournament organizer has also had exclusivity deals with YouTube and Facebook in the past, but that appears to be out of the plans for now.
ESL is seemingly following what other notable CS:GO tournaments like BLAST and PGL do, which is to have streams on both Twitch and YouTube. Both streaming platforms have their own perks, but part of the fan base seems to enjoy watching more on YouTube due to being able to instantly replay any part of the match they want.
Other YouTube perks are that it’s generally easier to watch YouTube on a Smart TV rather than Twitch because not all Smart TVs have the Twitch app. Twitch generally also uses more bandwidth than YouTube, which isn’t ideal for someone watching a match on their Wi-Fi hotspot.
Related: IEM Katowice CS:GO 2023: Scores, bracket, and results
“As we are creating worlds beyond gameplay, it is important to connect with the community where they are, be that on Twitch, YouTube, or any other platform,” ESL’s chief relationship officer and senior vice president of brand and media partnerships Mark Cohen said. “Live-streaming our events on our own broadcast channels across multiple platforms adds to the reach our products have via our official Media Rights partners and allows us and our brand partners to grow and nurture the esports community and to better serve gaming enthusiasts worldwide. Building on our relationships with Twitch and YouTube, we have the opportunity to provide fans with a better viewing experience, and we are thrilled to have them on board on this journey.”
The end of the exclusivity deal came right before the beginning of IEM Katowice, which is the first $1 million tier-one CS:GO tournament of the year. The action will kick off tomorrow, Feb. 1 with the play-in stage. Eight teams from the play-in will join the directly qualified teams in the group stage and the tournament will end on Sunday, Feb. 12 with the best-of-five grand finals.
Unless ESL signs a new exclusivity deal for its CS:GO tournaments, fans will be able to follow matches on both Twitch and YouTube during other events such as ESL Pro League season 17, IEM Brazil, and IEM Cologne.
You can follow ESL’s CS:GO broadcasts on YouTube on its official channel.
