Fortnite‘s biggest event of the year, the FNCS Global Championship, has recorded growth across all viewership metrics this year, despite having a lower prize pool than 2023.
The FNCS 2024 Global Championship garnered 809,000 peak viewers, around 80,000 more than last year, according to esports data and viewership platform Esports Charts.
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The Global Championship is the largest event in the FNCS (Fortnite Championship Series), the largest and most important event in Fortnite esports. The 2024 edition improved across the board when compared to 2023, with around 80,000 more peak viewers but almost 200,000 more average viewers with around two hours air time.
The event was more popular than the 2023 edition, despite the fact that the 2023 tournament had double the prize money. The 2024 FNCS GC had $2m (£1.5m) in prize money, compared to $4m (£3m) in 2023.
The impressive viewership numbers make the FNCS 2024 Global Championship the third-most-watched event in Fortnite history and the second-most-watched esports event for the battle royale game. According to Esports Charts data, the Fortnite Celebrity Pro-Am tournaments in 2018 and the Fortnite World Cup 2019 had more viewers than the FNCS Global Championship.
Both the 2023 and 2024 events were produced by esports production company BLAST, as a part of a larger deal between the production company and Epic Games. BLAST runs all of the operations for the FNCS, and has worked with Epic Games since 2022 to produce the game’s flagship esports FNCS tournaments. Since the start of the partnership, FNCS viewership has increased.
The 2024 edition took place at the Dickies Arena in Forth Worth, Texas, the same venue that will host the upcoming RLCS World Championship, a tournament in Rocket League that is organised jointly by BLAST and Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite.
