In just the first few months of the 2019 calendar year, Dota 2 
has shown that its esports events attract more than just an English-speaking audience on Twitch. Numerous high-profile tournaments and Majors so far this year have had Russian-language broadcasts on Twitch with viewership figures that match, or even surpass, English-language coverage.
During this month’s MDL Disneyland Paris Major, the English-language Twitch
channel covering the event produced 6M hours watched from May 4-12. For comparison, the Russian-language channel that was also covering the event drew 6.1M hours watched, including re-broadcasts and peripheral programming.
This is by no means a recent trend for Dota 2 esports though. In 2018, four of the top 10 most-watched channels broadcasting Dota 2 were Russian-language esports broadcasts. Three were English-language esports channels, and the rest were influencers.
Broadcasters such as RuHub (owned by ESforce), Maincast, and StarLadder continue to serve as examples of what can be achieved by leveraging the market for Russian-language Dota 2 coverage. RuHub has covered Majors such as the recent MDL Disneyland Paris Major and Maincast has shown tournaments like the Kuala Lumpur Major.
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The strong following of Dota 2 by a Russian-language fanbase doesn’t stop with esports. The game’s player base is filled with activity in it the Russian region. Data collected by RGP.io suggests that around 20% or more of the daily Dota 2 matches played are Russian, compared to around 5-7% of total daily matches played in the U.S.
Meanwhile, many of the top esports teams for Dota 2 have some form of Russian-language influence. Numerous teams from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) regularly qualify for high-profile events and Majors, such as Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere, both of which have Russian-speaking rosters.
The prominence of Dota 2 as an esports to Russian speakers has even drawn the marketing attention of brands like Gillette and Head & Shoulders. Last year, Virtus.pro player Alexey “Solo” Berezin was featured in a commercial for Gillette razors, and before that teammate Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev was named as an ambassador for Head & Shoulders.
Additionally, some of the most-watched influencers for Dota 2 on Twitch have Russian-language channels. Dota 2 streamers “Stray228” and “Ybicanoooobov” regularly sit as the top two influencers for the game, and so far this year, they’re the most-watched on Twitch with 6.3M and 6.2M hours watched, respectively.
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Other than those two streamers, only one other top 10 Dota 2 influencers has more than 5M hours watched on the year. Swedish gamer Janne “Gorgc” Stefanovski has racked up 6.1M hours watched this year. Stefanovski and the two Russian-speaking influencers are the only personality broadcasters to sit as one of the top 10 most-watched Dota 2 channels at this point in the year.
Last year, the figures were similar. “Stray 228” and “Ybicanoooobov” sat in the top 10 with 15.2M and 14.4M hours watched, respectively, and the only other stream to make Dota 2’s top 10 was Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg.
To put it plainly, Russian-language viewership of Dota 2 esports on Twitch is no fluke or rare phenomenon. As qualifying for the EPICENTER Major in June begins, viewership is poised to continue thriving for the remainder of the 2018-2019 Dota Pro Circuit season, and that success for Russian-language broadcasts emanates to other Russian-language parts of Dota 2 on Twitch and in the sponsorship market.
