They are using Xfire as a source... Basically what the article is actually saying is that there are more dota players using xfire than LoL players. 

Same here, and that's actually why I prefer streams. I enjoy getting insight from the players as they are making plays. I don't just want to see what Player X does, I want to know his thought process leading up to the play. I want to know why he makes certain decisions, or how he knew he'd win an exchange or why he purchased a certain item.

That would be awesome, I don't really do ranked too much but I'm pretty good.  VGchartz LoL, Assembleeeeeee!

This is why Riot and Blizzard don't do tournament spectating.

The international was free, and it was the biggest tournament for DOTA 2. And if this method for spectating tournaments is successful, you can bet that Blizzard and Riot will implement it as well.

I don't know about Blizzard, but with Riot, they don't have built in broadcaster system last I played so that's probably why they don't do it.

I simply do not think this data is correct. LoL is just much more popular on every site (Twitch, etc)

Riot have a full spectator client they just deliberately don't enable it for tournaments.

Blizzard could easily do it but their partners make a ton of money off subscription passes.

The International was 1.5 years ago and still no movement from the other two.

Are these guys aware that they can check the concurrent users of a steam game whenever they want? Dota 2 has never even come close to surpassing the 5 million concurrent users that Riot touted last month. Even if that number is exaggerated, or if only 10% of those numbers are from the West, that's still more than the average amount of concurrent users that Dota 2 has according to http://store.steampowered.com/stats/.

Also are they sure they even used Xfire data? Because LoL players on Xfire outnumber Dota 2 players approximately 14:1. All this article did was highlight the incompetence of DFC Intelligence in executing proper research.

All it takes is one look on Twitch.tv and you'll find that even Heart of the Swarm averages more viewers than DotA 2, let alone LoL.

Dota's popularity in China however, is a whole other story.

They also did The International 2 but DOTA 2 "tecnically" is still in beta so who knows  how successful this model can be when DOTA 2 gets an "official" release.

Also I said that if it is successful, the other companies can follow suit, and right now its a good model, but not making enough of an impact to cause anyone to want to rush into a hasty decision.

Hopefully when the International 3 comes around the game will be "out" we can see how much of an impact it can make.

I recall seeing someone saying that the same source that cited the huge LoL numbers is the same source that is saying that DOTA 2 is bigger in the west.

So if correct you either have to think both are valid or invalid.