EA Sports FIFA 21 Challenge Draws Record-Breaking Audience

The EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Challenge, a one-day esports tournament that paired top global professional footballers with the world’s best FIFA players, drew an average minute audience (AMA) of 254,057 with a total watch time of 1,024,696 hours, making the event the most-watched EA operated esports broadcast in history. Additionally, the broadcast more than doubled the viewership metric set by the next most-watched EA operated FIFA event, the FIFA Global Series FUT Champions Cup: Barcelona, which took place over multiple days in January 2018 with an AMA of 92,678.

During the competition, four esports players paired with four professional footballers from international clubs Liverpool, West Ham United, Inter Milan, and Borussia Dortmund, clashed on October 29 for the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Challenge. Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Fnatic’s Tekkz took home the trophy and won $20,000 on behalf of their selected charities

In addition to incorporating celebrity participation to reach non-traditional gaming audiences, the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Challenge was the first event to utilize all-new FIFA Global Series Viewership Rewards, creating an interactive broadcast for viewers with in-game benefits for watching to further drive engagement and subsequent play time.

“EA SPORTS FIFA is woven into the fabric of football culture. Bringing professional footballers and our esports pros together creates entertainment that sets our tournaments apart,” says Brent Koning, EA SPORTS FIFA Commissioner. “The success of the FIFA 21 Challenge reinforces our strategy and vision for broadening the esports audience, creating content for our fans, and underscores the value of entertainment-driven events that branch outside of traditional esports.”

The FIFA 21 Challenge was a part of a series of EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series pre-season invitationals, featuring notable influencers, footballers, and FIFA pros, in partnership with the interactive entertainment world’s biggest video streaming and content platforms. It’s a nod to EA’s renewed competitive gaming strategy, which leverages the convergence of traditional sports, competitive gaming, and pop culture to create new, engaging, and accessible broadcasts for diverse audiences.