The Hearthstone World Championship 2026 attracted more than 41,000 concurrent viewers at its peak, delivering the tournament series’ strongest audience result since 2020.

As Cybersport In reports, citing Esports Charts, the championship generated more than 858,600 hours watched, while its peak audience increased by almost 10% compared with the previous edition.

The tournament was held in Anaheim as part of BlizzCon 2026 and brought together some of the world’s strongest Hearthstone players. According to the published statistics, the broadcast peaked at 41,387 viewers, returning the championship to the top five most-watched events in the history of the series.

The semifinal between Wu «XiaoT» Juwei and Wu «Curfew» Zheng-xian became the most-watched match of the competition. Interest in the encounter was even higher than in the grand final, which is unusual for a major international tournament.

English-language broadcasts accounted for almost 59% of the total watch time. Twitch remained the main platform for the event, generating more than 80% of all hours watched, while most of the remaining audience followed the championship on YouTube.

The official PlayHearthstone Twitch channel attracted the largest number of viewers. Russian streamer SilverName was the most popular community caster, while a total of 65 unique channels covered the competition.

Chinese player OTGxhh won the Hearthstone World Championship 2026 after defeating his compatriot XiaoT 3–1 in the grand final. The victory became the first major achievement of OTGxhh’s professional career and earned him $100,000 in prize money.

The championship’s viewership figures indicate renewed interest in competitive Hearthstone after several years of declining peak audiences. The 2020 World Championship remains the series record holder with more than 89,200 concurrent viewers, but the 2026 tournament was the first edition in six years to reverse the downward trend.