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Call of Duty League Broadcasts Exclusive to YouTube for 2023-2024 Season

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James Fudge

5 months ago

Call of Duty League 2023-2024 media rights go to YouTube

The Call of Duty League announced this week that YouTube will serve as the official broadcast partner of the 2023-2024 season.

During the 2022-2023 season league broadcasts and co-streams/watch parties hosted by prominent streamers such as OpTic Gaming-associated Call of Duty pro Seth “Scump” Abner were available on both YouTube and Twitch.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The 2023-2024 CDL season will be broadcast in 4K on YouTube Gaming starting Friday (Dec. 8) at 12 PM PST/3PM EST on the official CDL channel – youtube.com/codleague.

CDL also announced the 2024 watch party program, opening weekend viewership rewards for fans, and its tentative schedule for the 2023-2024 season. The schedule as it stand now is:

Major I – Boston Breach

December 8-January 21: Online Qualifiers
January 25-28: LAN Tournament

Major II – Miami Heretics

February 16-March 17: Online Qualifiers
March 21-24: LAN Tournament

Major III – Toronto Ultra

April 12 – May 12: Online Qualifiers
May 16-19: LAN Tournament

Major IV – Carolina Royal Ravens

May 24-June 16: Online Qualifiers
June 20-23: LAN Tournament

Activision Blizzard’s original and exclusive media rights deal with YouTube took place during the 2020-2021 season—and coupled with media rights for the Overwatch League during the same period—that deal was worth an estimated $160M USD.

In our reporting on the situation at Minnesota Røkkr’s now-former owner Version1 (it was taken over by G2 Esports), it was revealed that the original YouTube media rights deal was actually the only time Activision Blizzard projections about media rights values in its original pitch to team owners were accurate.

James Fudge

With a career spanning over two decades in the esports and gaming journalism landscape, James Fudge stands as a seasoned veteran and a pivotal figure in the evolution of esports media. His journey began in 1997 at Game-Wire / Avault, where he curated gaming and community news, laying the groundwork for his expertise in the field. In his more recent roles, James cemented his status as an authority in the esports business sphere as Senior Editor Esports at Sports Business Journal and The Esports Observer between 2018 and 2021.