By the Numbers: BLAST Bounty vs ESL Pro League

Live Audience

While all events from August 2022 onwards featured a live audience in Malta, the number of attendees was so small that it is negligible in the final statistics. Venues held around 200 seats and were hardly ever full, particularly in earlier playoff phases. Maybe one day Malta will see a surge in esports interest amongst the common population, but for the time being, the “Malta basement crowd” continues to persist.

ESL Pro League Seasons 11 – 15

When GamingMalta put pen to paper on a two-year partnership with ESL back in 2020, few could have imagined the impact the COVID-19 pandemic would have on the world. Esports was also severely impacted, with Seasons 11, 12, 13 and 14 of the ESL Pro League, which had originally been planned to be played in a studio in Malta, being shifted to an entirely online format.

Season 15 would finally return to a studio; however, this was held in Germany behind closed doors. Due to the drastically different setup of these events, it did not feel fair to compare the viewership metrics with post-COVID tournaments, and they will not be included in the analysis.

ESL Pro League Seasons 16 – 20 & BLAST Bounty S2

Pro League seasons in Malta have consistently delivered solid numbers, albeit with some variation across seasons. Peak viewers generally hovered around the half-million mark between Seasons 16 and 18, before dipping in Season 19 and then surging to over 800,000 in Season 20, the highest of all Pro League seasons on the island. Average viewers, however, remained more modest, fluctuating between 110,000 and 170,000 depending on the season.

BLAST’s first Maltese showing, the BLAST Bounty Season 2, achieved a similar level of peak viewers to EPL Season 20 (around 800,000) and posted the highest average viewership of all six events at over 200,000. This demonstrates BLAST’s ability to draw consistent audiences, even in its debut Maltese event.

Event Airtime and Hours Watched

A large factor influencing the viewership numbers is the event airtime. Pro League seasons traditionally run for significantly longer than BLAST events, with Seasons 16 through 18 exceeding 230 hours of broadcast time. That number dropped sharply in Seasons 19 and 20 (closer to 150 hours), while BLAST came in with a lean 85 hours. Despite less airtime, BLAST’s ability to maintain high averages shows the strength of its format in concentrating interest.

Total hours watched tells a slightly different story. Longer Pro League seasons naturally generated more watch time overall, with Season 16 peaking at nearly 4 million total hours. However, this number steadily declined across subsequent seasons, hitting a low in Season 19 before recovering somewhat in Season 20. BLAST posted the lowest total hours of all six events, but the metric is skewed by its much smaller airtime.

A more accurate measure of audience engagement is hours watched per airtime. Here, BLAST significantly outperformed ESL. Despite its shorter broadcast time, BLAST’s ratio was the highest at over 200,000 hours watched per hour of airtime. ESL’s early seasons were also far less efficient, though improvements have been seen since Season 19 as the league trimmed down its format.

Raw Data

All the viewship data for this article has been sourced from Esports Charts.

Final Notes

Malta’s unique status has created a fascinating case study in how two organisers approach the same title differently. With Pro League, ESL has embraced the long-form league model: weeks of matches that steadily build up to a climax. That approach has given Malta a regular spot on the calendar for the past 3 years and delivered millions of hours watched, cementing the island as a familiar home for top-tier Counter Strike. Yet, as the numbers show, the longer the league runs, the harder it becomes to maintain momentum.

BLAST’s arrival has brought an entirely different energy. In 85 hours of airtime, they captured the same heights as ESL’s best seasons and kept a higher average viewership. The event’s efficiency was commendable, showing how a shorter, punchier format can captivate audiences without the risk of fatigue.

Together, ESL and BLAST illustrate two competing but complementary visions for esports on our island. One emphasises stability and scale, the other intensity and engagement. Whichever direction the scene leans in the future, the real winner is Malta itself. With BLAST here to stay until 2027, Malta continues to be a global stage for the future of esports.