In 2024, the Pokémon World Championships (PWC) traveled to Honolulu in Hawaii, bringing a celebration of all things Pokémon to the city’s sunny shores. The PWC is a massive event for Pokémon fans worldwide, with new merch, mascots, giant plushies, exclusive trading cards, a spectacular drone show and, for this year, Pokémon-themed surfboards – finally making Surfing Pikachu a reality!
Of course the main event is Pokémon esports across four game types: The Pokémon Video Game (VG), Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG), Pokémon GO, and Pokémon UNITE. After earning points to qualify for the PWC across regional tournaments such as the Pokémon Europe International Championships, over 3000 trainers competed across the four games for various prize pools summing to $2M USD.
In this article, we’re looking at the success of the PWC 2024, the impact of co-streaming on live-streaming viewership, and the legacy of the event across the past three years.
PWC 2024 Sees Mainline Games Hold Strong while Pokémon GO Takes Second Place
The PWC 2024 was a massive success. Over just two days, the PWC 2024 generated 2.8M hours watched with a peak viewership of 201K. This peak came early on the first day as viewers tuned in to see the new Honolulu-themed Pokémon merch and set dressing, plus to join in the hype for all of the competitors. The mood for Pokémon events is mostly upbeat and wholesome, but the event attracted some controversy when one competitor was disqualified for supposedly making a rude gesture – a decision that ultimately determined the fate of the Pokémon TCG’s $50K prize pool.
The end of the PWC 2024 was a big occasion even for casual Pokémon fans, with the PWC acting as a mini Pokémon Presents event. Tsunekazu Ishihara, CEO of The Pokémon Company, introduced a series of announcements, including Dynamax coming to Pokémon GO and more details about the upcoming Pokémon TCG Pocket mobile game which releases on October 30th.
Among the four games on display at PWC 2024, one stood out. The Pokémon VG generated nearly 42% of the event’s total viewership at 1.2M hours watched. The VG also brought in a peak viewership of 113K – more than double any other game. As the original title, the VG’s popularity over other games is to be expected.
Interestingly, Pokémon GO beat out the Pokémon TCG to take second place at 655K hours watched versus the latter’s 616K. Although the gap appears narrow, it’s worth remembering that the TCG had almost 10 hours more airtime than the other games which led to a higher amount of hours watched. Looking at peak viewership, the TCG actually underperformed compared to Pokémon UNITE with peak viewerships of 35.5K and 42.2K, respectively.
The Official Pokémon YouTube Channel Generates Most of PWC 2024’s Viewership
Unlike many other esports events, the PWC 2024 (and many other Pokémon esports) don’t rely heavily on co-streaming to rack up viewership. For the PWC 2024, co-streaming accounted for only 16% of all viewership – 446K hours watched. It may be that unlike other esports with big-name personalities that fans want to cheer on, most people watch the PWC for the Pokémon themselves. However, The Pokémon Company did still host a Twitch Drops campaign to try and drive up the proportion of co-streamers (and their viewers) for the PWC 2024.
The Official Pokémon YouTube Channel was the shining star for the event, seeing a massive 300x increase in viewership as a result of the PWC 2024. That made it the 3rd highest growing channel for the week beginning 12th of August. The Official Pokémon YouTube Channel provides viewers with expert analysis from the best commentators in the business, full access to all the big announcements and even its own unique Twitch Drops rewards (including new Pokémon for three of the four games on show). This comprehensive coverage pulls regular viewers away from co-streamers.
PWC 2024 Edges Out PWC 2023, Becoming the Most Watched Pokémon Esports Event
The PWC 2024 not only performed well, but even outstripped all previous iterations of the event. The PWC 2024 saw an increase in hours watched of 352K over the PWC 2023 – a 14.3% increase. This rise came from three of the four Pokémon games, with the Pokémon TCG alone seeing a massive surge in viewership of 98.5% compared to 2023 – almost double the demand. The one disappointing title was Pokémon UNITE which, after a massive year in 2023 of 960K hours watched, settled back down to 368K hours watched. This drop in popularity may be due to more hype for the Pokémon TCG drawing fans away from the MOBA title.
On the whole, Pokémon continues to gain momentum. The excitement for the next Pokémon Legends game, Pokémon Legends Z-A, is palpable as the series returns to the Kalos region from Pokémon X/Y. The aforementioned Pokémon TCG Pocket mobile game is also a godsend for casual and hardcore Pokémon players alike. Stream Hatchet will be watching as these new games carry hype into the PWC Anaheim in 2025 and PWC San Francisco in 2026.
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