StarLadder Budapest Major Stage 3 attracts just under 1 million viewers

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 09/12/2025

Stage 3 of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 has concluded and brought in close to 1 million Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) fans.

As teams competed to reach the Playoffs, Stage 3 peaked at 970,598 viewers according to data platform Esports Charts.

The peak came as Team Falcons secured the final Playoffs spot and eliminated G2 Esport thanks to Ilya “⁠m0NESY⁠” Osipov.

There have already been CS2 roster changes after StarLadder Budapest eliminations, from G2 and other teams.

While Stage 3 almost reached 1 million viewers, that section of the tournament has averaged at around 552,748 viewers overall.

This is a 17% decrease from Stage 3 of the BLAST.TV Austin Major, which attracted an average of 667,705.

However, the Budapest Major has seen a significant growth in both the Portuguese and Mongolian audiences.

The Portuguese audience peak is 22% from Austin’s Stage 3, with 283,380 viewers, while a peak of 86,634 Mongolion viewers tuned in at a 65% increase.

The growth in the Portuguese-speaking viewers is thanks to three Brazilian teams competing in Stage 3 with pAIN Gaming, Imperial Esports, and FURIA.

FURIA is the only one of those teams that has advanced to the Playoffs, finishing with a dominant 3-0 record to continue their fine form.

FaZe Clan have also qualified after FaZe shocked Team Vitality at StarLadder Budapest Stage 3 in one of many upsets.

The excitement and increased stakes have seen the Budapest Major’s peak viewership increase by more than 300k compared to Stage 2.

Milestone CS2 viewership for StarLadder

While the Starladder Budapest Major hasn’t reached the same heights that the Austin Major did during Stage 3, StarLadder will still be happy.

Especially as the event has already been the most-watched event in the company’s history.

The peak audience, just shy of 1 million viewers, has already beaten the 2019 StarLadder Berlin Major Grand Final.

The final between Astralis and AVANGAR was StarLadder’s previous best, after peaking at a little over 836k.

And there’s a strong chance that this year’s Budapest Major will cross the the one million mark with plenty of games still to be played.

Especially with the exciting match-ups in the StarLadder Budapest Major Playoffs bracket already set.

Team Spirit vs Team Falcons will see a star-studded clash between Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets and Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač.

And after an awkward start, it will be fascinating to see if Team Vitality can return to trophy-winning form against MongolZ.

Jack Stewart, Senior Editor

In my seven years of esports writing, I've introduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I'm most proud of the latter.

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