Lowest Prizepool, More Viewers? The International 2024 in numbers

The International 2024 has come to a close as Team Liquid triumphed over their long-time nemesis, Gaimin Gladiators.

Team Liquid holding the Aegis Of Champions.

Their story proves that persistence, combined with years of hard work, dedication, trust, and loyalty, will eventually pay off. However, this year’s International had its fair share of surprising upsets.

The Surprising Upsets

One of the most unexpected twists was the early exit of Team Spirit, the former two-time TI champions. Despite going undefeated during the group stage, the team stumbled in their seeding decider series against nouns.

As a result, they had to begin their TI journey from the lower bracket.

While they won their first lower bracket series against G2.iG, they fell short in their next series against Xtreme Gaming, finishing 9th-12th. Team Spirits’ early exit wasn’t something anyone expected this year.

However, there was another unexpected storyline - Tundra Esports' near-triumphant run.

Tundra Esports' safelaner, Pure, all hyped up advancing to the top three.

With a stand-in player, Tundra pulled off a top-three finish at The International 2024, defying all odds. Along the way, they eliminated several tournament favourites and came tantalizingly close to the grand finals. Unfortunately, their journey ended after a decisive game that stretched past the hour mark.

Notably, their stand-in was a former TI champion.

The International 2024 Viewership Stats: A Success Story

The International is often regarded as one of the most prestigious esports tournaments of the year. In the past, the decline in The International's prize pool has raised concerns within the Dota 2 community.

However, The International 2024 was a massive success overall. Despite having one of the lowest prize pools since Valve introduced the Compendium in 2013, the tournament's viewership saw an increase compared to the previous year.

Team Liquid hiding their next decade strats.

At its peak, this year's TI attracted 1,523,957 viewers during the grand finals series between Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators.

By contrast, last year’s peak viewership was 1,442,274, which was even lower than this year's lower bracket finals between Tundra Esports and Gaimin Gladiators. It seems that the higher the prestige and anticipation, the more viewers the event attracts.

During its 117 hours and 30 minutes of airtime, the tournament averaged 469,682 concurrent viewers. While some may argue that average viewership saw a slight decline, it’s important to consider that this year’s TI featured fewer teams.

Additionally, many of the playoff series ended in clean sweeps, except for the lower bracket finals. Even the grand finals concluded with a dominant 3-0 sweep. With fewer series and less airtime, these factors likely impacted the viewership numbers.

Few Notes On the Meta

The International 2024 lasted a total of two weeks. All the games of the tournament were played on the Patch 7.37c. During this time, the meta has evolved toward scaling-oriented heroes.

Throughout the tournament, Mirana was the most contested hero due to her ultimate ability, Solar Flare. She is also a perfect flex pick as she can be either played as a core or a support.

DK may seems easy to execute but don't get bamboozled.

Likewise, Dragon Knight has also taken the TI meta despite having a low win rate in pubs.

DK has become somewhat of a pseudo-core pick as it can be either played as a safelaner or a midlaner. The hero functions like Sven but better. DK also scales well in contrast to Sven, that falls off as the game progresses.

Sniper is gaining popularity as a support due to his Scattershot facet for his Shrapnel. It allows him to secure the lane for his cores during the laning stage. In the late-game skirmishes, it offers a split-second vision dealing massive aoe damage.

However, if it's a good sniper match, players opt to play Sniper as a core rather than a support.

With the conclusion of The International 2024, the Dota 2 professional season has officially come to a close for the year. Teams now face a brief window before the next season begins, and many are preparing for the post-TI roster shuffle.