Americas derby clears 1 million viewership at VCT Masters Madrid
The re-match between North American Esports organisation Sentinels and the Brazilian team LOUD has broken one million concurrent viewers during the VALORANT Champions Tour Masters in Madrid.
A rematch with bite
Just three weeks after the Kickoff Americas Grand Final between the two Americas powerhouses, the rematch served as a nailbiter between the two organisations, who have slowly but surely established a regional rivalry that has been attracting fans all over the globe.
During their first match in early March, the best-of-five series went the full distance, with Sentinels narrowly edging out LOUD with over 800,000 viewers catching the showdown.
With a score to settle, LOUD had a slow start to the series and lost decisively on Split with a 4-13 scoreline. Especially Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro impressed with a 19/8/6 KDA on Viper, dominating the attack rounds.
On map 2, Sentinels looked to close out the series and went on a roll towards the end of the map, winning five consecutive map point rounds for LOUD, but ultimately, were sent to the third map to close out the series.
Taking it to Sunset, the match once again turned into a bloodbath, with even scores pushing the deciding map into overtime. Eventually, the Sentinels stood tall, took the rematch, and sent LOUD to the lower bracket.
More than a milli
With the rematch taking place on the international stage, even more eyes than the first time around watched the two giants face off. According to the esports broadcast analytics tool esportscharts, the match peaked at 1,062,108 views across platforms with the main broadcasts in several languages as well as the co-streams combined.
Perhaps more impressively, the number was struck at an inopportune time for the Americas viewer base, especially given that it was played during the week. Throughout the event, Sentinels has been attracting some of the largest crowds, with all of the three highest viewership peak matches during Masters Madrid having them as one of the protagonists.
The upper bracket series against the South Korean organisation Gen.G could strike another viewership record, currently peaking at 914,750 viewers as of the time of writing.
Fans won't have to wait too long for a rematch between LOUD and Sentinels. If they were to not meet again during VCT Masters Madrid, a third match is scheduled for April 28 in VCT Americas Stage 1, promising a continuation of the saga.
