The IEM Cologne 2022 tournament was remarkable not only because of the exciting matches and the hard-fought final, which lasted almost six hours. According to EsportsCharts, the event ranked fifth in history in terms of viewership. At its peak, IEM Cologne 2022 was watched by more than 1.2 million viewers. It was thus slightly behind the 2017 and 2018 ELEAGUE Major competitions (about 1.3 million each). The leaders of the top – PGL Major Antwerp 2022 (2.1 million spectators) and PGL Major Stockholm 2021 (more than 2.7 million).
It turns out that IEM Cologne 2022 was the most popular among the events that do not have the official status of a major. The finals were watched the most, unsurprisingly – the FaZe vs. NAVI match attracted 1.2 million viewers. English-language, Russian-language and Portuguese broadcasts were the most popular. And all the matches of the tournament, in which s1mple participated, collected more than 9 million hours of viewing.
Meanwhile, one of FaZe players Russell «Twistzz» Van Dulken criticized the organizers' attitude to this event. He said the tournament, which has been held since 2013, has a special meaning to him and is one of the most significant of the season. That said, the player feels that ESL is not paying enough attention to his development due to the fact that he does not officially have major status.