How did the popularity of Eastern European esports clubs change during the war in Ukraine?

Almost 4 months have passed since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, and during this time eSports in Eastern Europe has undergone significant changes. Many leagues were suspended, and teams had to leave conflicting countries, play under neutral tags or even change lineups, which undoubtedly affected their viewing statistics. This article will talk about the war-induced changes in the popularity of top clubs from Ukraine and the Russian Federation: Natus Vincere, Gambit Esports, Virtus.pro and Team Spirit. For a more accurate calculation of statistics, we did not take into account the matches of the selected teams against each other. The data for VP and Gambit includes matches under neutral tags (Outsiders, Players and MZS), while Vladislav "nafany" Gorshkov's roster statistics after moving to Cloud9 are not taken into account.

In the last three months before the war (since December 1st), Gambit Esports was the most popular organization in the region. This was largely due to the success of the Valorant roster, which reached the finals of VALORANT Champions 2021, the discipline's world championship. In the period from March to May, there was no trace left of the club's impressive attendance statistics. During this time, average and peak views decreased by 69% and 78%, respectively.

It is worth noting that recently Gambit Esports disbanded two Dota 2 rosters and one Apex Legends roster, and the roster of the Russian CS:GO organization completely moved to Cloud9. At the time of publication, Gambit only had one active Valorant roster, playing under the neutral tag MZS.

Notably, of the organizations reviewed, only Gambit Esports showed a decline in all four metrics (Hours Watched, Avg. Viewer, Peak Viewer, and Airtime) since the start of the war.

Average and Peak Viewers Team Spirit, Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro grew mainly due to the participation of their CS:GO rosters in PGL Major Antwerp 2022. Recall that VP (Outsiders) took the 12th-14th line. At the Spirit tournament, they reached the semi-finals, and NAVI played in the grand final of the tournament. At the same time, Team Spirit 's performance has grown significantly thanks to the performance of the Dota 2 roster at ESL One Stockholm Major 2022.

If we do not take into account the statistics of the majors, it turns out that the performance of all organizations during the war has dropped significantly. At the same time, the indicators of Team Spirit suffered the least: Peak and Average Viewers of the organization decreased by 23% and 1%, respectively. Virtus.pro showed the biggest drop in these indicators: they decreased by 61% and 38%, respectively.

Now let's pay attention to the popularity of organizations among the Russian-speaking audience. Looking at the statistics of the rosters for all tournaments, including the majors, it is clear that during the war, NAVI 's performance grew even more than that of Team Spirit. At the same time, Virtus.pro 's peak and average views are down by 3% and 37%, while those of Gambit Esports are down by 70% and 58%, respectively.

When looking at the attendance statistics of teams in the Russian-speaking segment, excluding the majors, it turns out once again that the performance of all the organizations considered during the war has dropped quite a lot. At the same time, the peak and average number of Gambit Esports viewers decreased the most: by more than 60%. Spirit (15% down) had the smallest drop in peak viewers, and NAVI (down 13%) saw the smallest average drop in viewers.

Obviously, the war in Ukraine has affected the viewing statistics of every Eastern European esports organization.Virtus.proandGambit, who are under strict sanctions, are forced to play under neutral tags. And whileVPstay afloat by participating in theCS:GO Majorand tournaments in less popular disciplines likeWarface,Gambit 's position looks pretty precarious. Meanwhile,Team Spiritmoved to Serbia and continued their activities without visible consequences. At the same time, the UkrainianNatus Vincereretained the status of the most popular organization in the region, and this is unlikely to change in the near future.