Hold the phone: How 15.7 million tournament viewers switched to vertical streams

RIYADH: In June, a Saudi team, Falcons, won Counter-Strike’s biggest tournament for the first time, and 15.7 million people followed the event on TikTok, on a screen smaller than their hand. Most had never followed the teams. Plenty had never watched the game. They found it while scrolling, and they stayed.

That last detail should interest anyone putting on live sport in the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia has spent the last few years building one of the most ambitious sports calendars in the world. Football, boxing, Formula 1, golf, the Esports World Cup and the upcoming Esports Nations Cup all have a home here now.

The investment in rights, venues and talent is enormous. Yet most of that sport still reaches fans framed for a living-room television or a PC setup, while the fans themselves are holding their phones upright.

ESL FACEIT Group wanted to find out what happens when you build a live broadcast for that phone from the very first frame.

It ran a small pilot during the IEM Atlanta playoffs in May, then expanded it at the IEM Cologne Major, the biggest event on the “Counter-Strike” calendar. The platform placed the core gameplay feed at the center of a 9:16 frame and rebuilt the whole screen around it.

The space around the match carried whatever a fan needed to know in that moment, and it moved with the action. After a big play, the players’ reactions filled the screen. In a tight final round, the clock took over. When teams rotated, the mini map came forward. Every player camera stayed visible throughout, and win probabilities, most valuable players, one-on-one duels and partner placements all had space designed for a vertical screen.

Fans responded. In Cologne, the stream drew 22.7 million views. They watched 842,000 hours, viewership peaked at 76,000 concurrent viewers, and the stream generated 15.2 million likes, 498,000 comments and 106,000 shares. ESL FACEIT Group gained 112,000 new followers. According to Esports Charts, it was the biggest “Counter-Strike” audience TikTok has ever recorded.

The most telling figure is where those viewers came from. A large share arrived through TikTok’s LIVE recommendations, with no connection to us beforehand. For a business focused on growing its audience, that is the whole point.

There are three lessons in that for leagues, promoters, and broadcasters across the Kingdom.

First, vertical needs its own production. A television feed squeezed onto a phone looks cramped and loses the moments that make live sport exciting. Someone has to decide, second by second, what the phone screen should show.

Second, these platforms work best as a front door. People watch in shorter bursts, and the platform keeps bringing the event back and putting it in front of new people. Success should be measured in reach and new fans.

And third, this creates new jobs. Vertical live production is a craft that barely existed two years ago. The countries that train people in it now will lead it later, and Saudi Arabia, already building its media and production talent under Vision 2030, is well placed to be one of them.

Electronic sports was the natural place to start. The audience is digital, events run for days, and then platform can test and adjust quickly. But the same thinking applies to a Saudi Pro League derby, a boxing card or a grand prix. Picture a match where the phone screen cuts to the players’ faces the second a goal goes in, then brings up a live stat as the second half kicks off.

ESL FACEIT Group is now working on bringing this format to more of their events, and is targeting Riyadh to be one of the places where it grows.

When Falcons lifted the trophy in Cologne, a huge audience was watching on their phones. Saudi fans have already chosen their screen. Now the broadcasts need to catch up.

Source – Arab News