CDL Major 3 Sets New Twitch Viewership Record for Call of Duty League

With CDL Major 3, the Call of Duty League set a new all-time Twitch viewership record, drawing more viewers than any other competition since the switch to a franchised system. The third Major of 2023, which OpTic Texas held at the Esports Stadium Arlington, went down in history as the CDL event with the highest viewership since the league’s inception in 2020.

According to data from Esports Charts, the series between hometown favorites OpTic and international foes Toronto Ultra is now the most watched in the CDL’s short history, peaking at 333,277 viewers during the grand finals.

OpTic Texas and Scump’s Co-Stream Dominate CDL Major 3 Viewership on Twitch

Even if the central broadcast itself saw a six-figure viewership increase, this new record also considers much more from watch parties and co-streams. Optic’s Scump took the lead for the day, pulling away from the CDL feed with more than 175,000 viewers watching and CoD veterans coming and going.

The previous record for CDL-specific events belonged to the 2020 finals, which had a comparable viewership of 331,558 supporters. Only one other tournament—the 2023 Stage 2 Major—has reached the 300K mark in the previous three years, and that was the final event before OpTic’s LAN.

Please note that this new record only applies to CDL events and not to Call of Duty as a whole. The honor goes to a Spanish MW3 Old School tournament in 2022, which drew 439,776 concurrent spectators. Major 3 saw an increase in viewership day over day, in large part due to OpTic’s outstanding lower bracket run on its route to narrowly surpassing the previous record. Boston Breach defeated the hometown team, leaving them with their back against the wall with a 0-3 loss.

But the Green Wall didn’t give up easily, as they went on to win five straight games to earn a place in the championship game. This most recent series was responsible for a further increase in views across the official CDL broadcast and Scump’s co-stream, which dominated Twitch as the two most popular accounts. It is, without a doubt, a positive sign for the league’s popularity, and as the 2023 season progresses, we will soon find out if the CDL can maintain its momentum into the fourth split and beyond.

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