The sports simulator EA Sports College Football 25 has quickly risen to the top of Twitch's categories, аfter its release in mid-July. In just a few days, the game has captivated streamers and viewers, even surpassing the football simulator EA Sports FC 24 in viewership. The Gameday Showcase broadcasts by EA Sports significantly contributed to this success.
EA Sports College Football 25 is a college football sports simulator and the first EA Sports title focused on college football since NCAA Football 14, released in 2013. Development began in 2019, with the creators of the Madden NFL series at the helm. Given that college football is a vital part of American culture, the release of College Football 25 has generated considerable excitement among fans in the United States.
On July 13-14, the Gameday Showcase streams for College Football 25 featured stars like LeBron James, Chad Johnson, Quinn Ewers, Donovan Edwards, and Michael Vick. Stand-up comedians Dan Soder and Shane Gillis, streamer Sketch, and other influencers were invited to introduce the game.
Most of the Gameday Showcase streams were hosted on the official easportscollege channel on Twitch, but some aired on the athletes' channels. The stream featuring LeBron James and Frankie Walker Jr was broadcast on the 356Hillwood channel and peaked at 15,100 viewers. Streams on the official easportscollege channel had over 23,700 viewers watching simultaneously.
#CFB25 is streaming all weekend long... Ready for more gameplay with star studded H2H matchups?
— EASPORTSCollege (@EASPORTSCollege) July 11, 2024
Full schedule coming tomorrow ?:https://t.co/kTfrkPWMy3 pic.twitter.com/IOd5LFuZan
The Gameday Showcase drew a substantial audience, and the participation of top athletes provided significant media exposure to College Football 25. However, the game's largest audience reach came from streamers rather than athletes.
Immediately after the Gameday Showcase, on July 15-16, College Football 25 became the leading category on Twitch in terms of unique channels. Over 12,000 streamers broadcast the new game simultaneously, surpassing even Fortnite in this regard. Regarding Average Channels, College Football 25 ranked second on the platform, only behind Epic Games' battle royale. In other words, during those days, College Football 25 was more popular than GTA V, League of Legends, Valorant, Call of Duty, and other titles.
Top Twitch streamers such as Kai Cenat, EsfandTV, NICKMERCS, Lacy, and Erobb221 streamed College Football 25. The most popular stream was by Kai Cenat, attracting over 121,300 viewers simultaneously, eight times more than LeBron James' stream.
On July 15 and 16, College Football 25 streams generated over 1.5 million Hours Watched. In comparison, EA Sports FC 24 had just over 930,000 HW during the same period. However, classic football soon regained its lead among EA Sports titles.
In terms of audience reach, only FC 24 and Madden NFL 24 can compete with College Football 25 among EA Sports' sports simulators. Titles like F1 24 and NHL 24 lag significantly behind the leaders.
