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At the start of 2026, the Ukrainian esports audience closely followed Natus Vincere’s performances in Counter Strike. The team had a difficult time entering the season after the winter slump, but eventually stabilized its form and managed to win the trophy.
According to the Esports Charts analytical platform, the results of NAVI were the key driver of one of the most successful quarters in the history of Ukrainian-language esports broadcasts.
The first 3 months of 2026 brought a record for the total hours of viewing of Ukrainian-language esports content. The total figure reached 7.4 million hours, which is 25.4% higher than in the same period of 2025. The main contribution came from Counter Strike broadcasts, which also set a new high. During the quarter, this discipline generated 5.6 million viewing hours, which is about 27.2% more than a year earlier.
These figures confirm the dependence of viewership in Ukrainian esports on the situation in Counter Strike. The results of Ukrainian teams and their presence at tournaments play a decisive role here. In the case of Dota 2, the picture looks less stable. Audience interest in major tournaments decreases if there is no Natus Vincere among the participants. A good example was ESL One Birmingham 2026 at the end of March, where the peak online Ukrainian-language broadcast from Maincast exceeded only 4.4 thousand viewers. For the studio, this is the weakest result among tournaments with a prize pool of more than $1 million since 2022.
A separate trend in 2026 was the gradual growth of YouTube’s role compared to Twitch in the Ukrainian-language broadcast segment. This can be clearly seen in the example of Maincast, which broadcasts key Counter Strike tournaments. During the ESL Pro League Season 23, BLAST Open Spring 2026, and IEM Kraków 2026, the studio’s YouTube channel outperformed Twitch in all key metrics, including total viewership, average online, and peak values.
Although the gap between the platforms does not yet exceed 15%, the direction of change is obvious. Part of the audience is gradually migrating to YouTube. At the same time, individual cases demonstrate different dynamics. For example, the participation of popular community casters affects the balance. In such cases, Misha Lebiga, who works exclusively on Twitch, strengthens the position of this platform. Taking into account his performance, Twitch can still outperform YouTube in terms of overall results.
The ESL Pro League Season 23 attracted the most attention among Ukrainian-language broadcasts in the first quarter. The tournament became a key event for Ukrainian Counter Strike fans as it ended with the victory of Natus Vincere. This is the team’s first title in the last 6 months after their success at the StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2025.
In the final match of ESL Pro League Season 23, NAVI defeated Turkish team Aurora Gaming with a score of 3:1. The peak online Ukrainian-language broadcast reached 109 thousand viewers, which was the 4th best result in history for the Ukrainian language in esports. A significant share of the audience was provided by Mykhailo Lebiga’s stream, which gathered 76.4 thousand viewers at its peak. This is the highest figure in his career.
The TOP 5 most popular tournaments included 4 Counter Strike events. Among them was BLAST Open Spring 2026, where NAVI reached the final but lost to Team Vitality with a score of 0:3. In the Dota 2 segment, BLAST Slam VI showed the best result. The tournament gathered more than 24.2 thousand viewers at the peak of the Ukrainian-language broadcast thanks to NAVI’s participation in the grand final. In this match, the team lost to Team Liquid with a score of 1-3.
Among the teams, Natus Vincere in Counter Strike became the undisputed leader in terms of views. The team under the leadership of coach Andriy B1ad3 Gorodensky actively started the spring season and played in 2 finals of major tournaments. This indicates a gradual recovery of form after weaker results in January and February.
The top 10 also includes teams that regularly met NAVI in tournaments or met it in decisive matches. First of all, we are talking about Aurora Gaming and Team Vitality, which have become important opponents of the Ukrainian club.
The most popular match of the quarter was the ESL Pro League Season 23 final between Natus Vincere and Aurora Gaming. Also in the top 3 were NAVI’s matches against Team Spirit and FURIA at IEM Krakow 2026, where the Ukrainian team failed to overcome the group stage. The NAVI vs. FUT Esports match also aroused considerable interest. The Turkish team includes Ukrainians Dmytro dem0n Myroshnychenko and Nikita cmtry Samoletov. Both players were previously associated with the NAVI academy and were considered potential candidates for the main roster, which added additional intrigue to the confrontation.
The overall picture remains stable. It is matches with Natus Vincere that generate the largest audience among Ukrainian-speaking viewers. This is due to both the successful performances of the team itself and the weaker results of other Ukrainian teams, including B8 Esports, Inner Circle Esports, and others.
The next tournament for Natus Vincere will be the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2026, which will take place from April 13 to 19 in Brazil. You can follow the events in the world of esports via Esports Charts analytics.
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