Although the prize pool for The International 2023 is set for a record low, the group stage viewership numbers are actually better than last year’s edition.
TI12 group stage featured a new format where the 20 teams were split into four groups of five. This meant that after two days of group play four teams, the bottom placement in each of the groups, were already eliminated. From there, the group stage headed into a seeding battle for the playoffs stage.
A total of 100 games were played through four days of action in Seattle, USA from October 12 to 15.
All games were broadcast live on five channels over Twitch.tv and YouTube for the English commentary alone.
Over 740,000 peak viewership for TI12 Group Stage
According to Esports Charts, the TI12 group stage peak viewership reached 748,000 across all official Twitch and YouTube broadcasts while last year’s group play peaked at less than 700,000 viewers.
This year’s peak was registered on the third day of the group stage in the playoffs seeding series Team Spirit
vs
Shopify Rebellion. Team Spirit swept the NA powerhouse 2-0 to secure an upper bracket start at TI12 and end the group stage with a perfect 10-0 game record.
As a result of this series, Shopify Rebellion will start the playoff run at TI12 from the lower bracket, risking a devastating elimination in the 13th/16th place, which would be even a lower placement than what the roster achieved last year in Singapore. Their first elimination series is scheduled on the 21st of October, in what is a nightmare scenario for the NA Dota fans as they are bound to lose one of the region representatives no matter the result.
Shopify Rebellionvs
TSM will open the second day of playoffs while on Friday, October 20, 2023, nouns will fight against Azure Ray for a spot into the upper bracket semifinals and a secured top 6 finish.
For those who will make an exit in the first round of the lower bracket, the prize will be at around $45,909 as The International 2023 prize pool has barely past the 3 million milestone, sitting now at $3,057,908. This is the lowest prize pool The International has had since 2013, when the total was $2,874,380.
The International 2023 Main Event format
Main Event - October 20 - October 22 (Playoffs Weekend) & October 27 - October 29 (Finals Weekend), 2023
- Sixteen teams play in a double-elimination bracket
- Eight teams begin in the Upper Bracket, and eight in the Lower Bracket
- Grand Final is Bo5, all other series are Bo3
