The FIDE World Championship 2021 has come to an early end with Magnus Carlsen securing his 5th World Championship title with a decisive 7.5 – 3.5 victory over Ian Nepomniachtchi. Total viewership for the event exceeded 12.6 million hours watched with a record peak streaming viewership for chess of 613,000 concurrent viewers making the FIDE World Championship in Dubai one of the most watched events in streaming globally.
“We are thrilled to congratulate Magnus Carlsen on another successful World Championship match. With this victory he continues to affirm his place as the strongest chess player in history and build his profile worldwide which is vital for developing the sport further. The team takes inspiration from his accomplishment as we look forward to continuing to work with him to grow and innovate the sport,” said Play Magnus Group CEO Andreas Thome.
After surpassing the peak viewership record for a professional chess tournament on online streaming platforms previously held by the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour on just the second day of the match, the FIDE World Championship continued to build in interest reaching a massive peak of 613,000 concurrent viewers. By comparison, the previous World Chess Championship in 2018 had a peak of 260,000 viewers, showing a 2.4x increase in audience.
“The World Championship has set global viewership records, and we are proud that our own platform chess24 was one of the largest contributors to these record-setting figures as the leader in viewership on YouTube, which was the platform of choice for over 60% of online viewers.” said Andreas Thome.
The increase highlights the growth in chess interest over the last couple years, marked by popular online events such as the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour and cultural phenomena such as Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit. The FIDE World Championship is now the second most popular multi-day streaming event globally so far in December.
“These viewership numbers have been motivating for us as they prove that not only is there a large audience following top level chess, but that the heightened interest in chess we have experienced over the last couple years is continuing to grow,” said Andreas Thome.
The interest in chess learning also increased both before and during the Championship.
“An increasing share of the world’s 600 million chess players are discovering online chess courses. Play Magnus Group is the global market leader in this segment through Chessable and the growth is tremendous. Video course purchases on Chessable were more than 90% higher in November 2021 than in November 2020. Nevertheless, we have only reached a fraction of the world’s players with our courses, so the growth potential remains extremely exciting,” said Andreas Thome.
