That's a great start for the Overwatch League but it has a really long way to go to beat traditional sports. I watched a couple matches and it was very interesting but I suspect much of that is because I play the game a lot and know all the heroes, the abilities, the maps. For someone without any knowledge about the game it must be a bit overwhelming.

400K views is pathetic if you apply those ratings to national sports, the NFL would be calling the ratings ambulance if they pulled an average of 400K views. It might be impressive for Overwatch, but not for anything outside it.

I don't see why the author goes into full damage control mode here. The two events are not comparable in the slightest. Overwatch has a world wide audience, which increases the numbers but makes it hard to cash in for advertisers. While Football has a very focused audience, making it very easy to make money from the broadcast.

While I'm the first person who would want traditional broadcasts to die out, especially American football, I don't think this comparison has any value in reality.

So at its peak, Overwatch had nearly 500,000 viewers you say? Well the NFL had 13 million on television alone. Ridiculous article lol.

Thursday Night Football?

That's like the NBA bragging that it's beating streams of Vroom in the Night Sky.

I'd watch it myself if there were a damn Chicago team! Though I suppose it could be entertaining to check out for a bit if only to pick up on strategies of the uber Overwatch nerds.. Trying to hone my game myself. Still only consider myself on an "elite" level with a handful of characters (Diva, Reaper, Zenyata, Torbjorn)