Electronic Arts announced Friday that EA SPORTS FC Pro—its esports program dedicated to its popular football game EA SPORTS FC 24— has seen record viewership numbers this season as it heads to FC Pro Open finals this weekend in London.
EA said that, in its debut season, FC Pro Open has reached several viewership milestone; most notably, the FC Pro Open (including the Global Qualifier), which ran from November 2023 – January 2024 across 30+ hours of broadcasts, has set the record as the most popular tournament in EA football esports history, delivering an average minute audience (AMA) of over 165K and more than 6M hours watched.
EA claims that viewership more than doubled compared to last year’s EA SPORTS Cup, and in its sixth week of competition, FC Pro Open has already garnered more than 17.5M views across 109 live channels, including official broadcasts and co-streams.
Following eight weeks of head-to-head competitions, the FC Pro Open is set to conclude on Saturday (Feb. 3) with a final showdown in London. Eight of the top-seeded players will compete at a live in-person event for a share of $500K USD total prize pool and a spot at the FC Pro World Championship this summer. Competitors taking part in this weekend’s finals include Emre Yilmaz, Umut, PHzin, Young, Vejrgang, AbuMakka, Levi De Weerd, and Obrun.
For those who can’t attend in person, the FC Pro Open Finals will be live-streamed on the official EA SPORTS FC Twitch channel.
In addition to the viewership milestones related to its esports program for EA SPORTS FC 24, EA revealed during its Q3 FY24 financial results this week that the franchise outperformed Q3 expectations, delivering 7% net bookings growth against a prior year that included the World Cup.
“EA SPORTS FC outperformed expectations again this quarter, delivering 7% year-over-year net bookings growth, as momentum continued through the FC brand transition,” said Stuart Canfield, CFO of EA. “We will continue to build upon the strength within our portfolio, while prioritizing investments in our largest opportunities for multi-year growth.”