• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechGaming

Intel Extreme Masters Shatters eSports Records

By
John Gaudiosi
John Gaudiosi
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
John Gaudiosi
John Gaudiosi
Down Arrow Button Icon
March 22, 2016, 1:59 PM ET
ESL

Intel just capped off its tenth year in eSports with its biggest event ever. The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) World Championship in Katowice, Poland attracted over 113,000 fans to Spodek Arena over the course of the event from March 4 to 6.

That’s up 8% over last year, thanks in part to an expanded IEM Expo featuring 43 booths from gaming companies and other partners interested in the gamer audience.

But the real benefit for Intel, as well as all of the sponsors involved in this mammoth eSports event, was the online audience.

ESL, which produces IEM, expanded its live-streaming reach for the first time with this event. Fans were able to watch the video game action in 26 languages across 14 platforms, including Twitch, Hitbox, Azubu, and new eSports entry Yahoo.

Nik Adams, senior vice president of sales and business development at ESL, boasts the gaming network produces world-class eSports content with the intent to ensure it reaches as many people as it possibly can. One of the ways it plans to achieve that is by targeting new audiences.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune‘s technology newsletter.

“Cross-platform live-streaming brings the content to new verticals, such as local sports sites,” says Adams. “eSports is ready for the real sports fan, as we already see viewership and popularity on both reaching the same levels — factors that help us bring our sport to the next level. When you look at the last 15 years of eSports history, and in particular the production quality, sponsor involvement, global reach and audience, you will notice that the quality and level of entertainment have always gone up with an audience boost. It won’t be different this year, when once again we will see multiple ESL events breaking industry records and the production value reaching a new high.”

The IEM World Championship also kicked off a new “Diversity in eSports” initiative between Intel and ESL, featuring a female CS:GO tournament. Ubisoft also partnered with ESL to launch its Rainbow Six Siege Pro League.

Over 34 million unique viewers tuned in to the IEM World Championship broadcasts matched by over two million estimated peak concurrent viewers across multiple viewing platforms. This viewership represents a 32% and 25% rise, respectively, compared to last year’s corresponding events.

The end of the IEM pro-gaming tour crowned three champions on the main stage in Spodek Arena: SK Telecom T1 in League of Legends, Fnatic in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Polt in StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void.

Over $5.5 million in prize money has been awarded at IEM events in the last decade, with over $500,000 given out at the IEM World Championship in Katowice alone.

At IEM Katowice, ESL streamed five stages. Adams notes each stage was localized to at least one additional language by the crew on the ground. That was on top of supporting up to 20 languages through partners or ESL local offices.

For more on eSports, watch:

Overall, this year’s IEM championship was the largest yet—not to mention the biggest ESL event as well. As the largest eSports provider worldwide, ESL already runs over 18 different eSports leagues and tournaments.

On top of the live-streaming exposure, the event broke all ESL engagement records on social media. ESL and IEM’s Twitter and Facebook accounts clocked over 3.2 million engagements with impressions in the hundreds of millions. Nearly 1,000 posts reached well over 30 million unique users on Twitter and Facebook over the course of the event.

IEM has visited five continents with 58 events over the last decade. As just one example of eSports meteoric growth, IEM’s first season topped out at around 500,000 video sessions. Season 10 exceeded 132.3 million video sessions.

About the Author
By John Gaudiosi
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

Reddit cofounder and CEO Steve Huffman
SuccessJobs
Billionaire Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says his company will ‘go heavy’ on hiring graduates because ‘they’re so much more AI native’ than older peers
By Emma BurleighMarch 23, 2026
21 minutes ago
CryptoVenture Capital
Exclusive: Early Kalshi employees raising up to $35 million for a prediction market VC fund with backing from the CEOs of both Kalshi and Polymarket
By Ben WeissMarch 23, 2026
56 minutes ago
Will Wilson smiles
NewslettersTerm Sheet
Startup Antithesis turns years of real-world chaos into hours of simulated mayhem—and key trading firms and crypto networks are paying close attention
By Lily Mae LazarusMarch 23, 2026
3 hours ago
C-SuiteNext to Lead
How the Great Wealth Transfer could quietly disrupt corporate America’s leadership pipeline
By Ruth UmohMarch 23, 2026
5 hours ago
Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril.
NewslettersFortune Tech
Anduril breaks in to the Pentagon big leagues
By Matthew HeimerMarch 23, 2026
5 hours ago
A phone with a logo in front of a black background
Big Techinvesting strategy
Supermicro—accused of smuggling $2.5 billion in Nvidia chips and servers to China—has been here before, with Iran
By Amanda GerutMarch 23, 2026
5 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.