The most recent episode of CPW’s Around the Whiteboard saw HWPO’s CEO Matt O’Keefe, The Barbell Spin’s Brian Spin, and 2024 CrossFit Games Silver Medalist Dallin Pepper, engaged in an intense debate about the potential impact of the newly announced WFP season on the CrossFit Games.
Brian Spin highlighted the historic disparity between CrossFit Games viewing figures and those for the Rogue Invitational or TYR Wodapalooza, arguing that viewers are more drawn to the quest to find ‘the Fittest on Earth’ than to simply see the same athletes compete more often.
O’Keefe and Pepper were skeptical. Instead they suggested that any discrepancies in viewership could be attributed to the depth of field. However, Spin stood his ground, contending that Rogue’s field, though smaller with only 20 athletes, is arguably stronger. O’Keefe countered by asserting that Rogue’s viewership figures were ‘very similar’ to those of the CrossFit Games.
But who was right? After reviewing the numbers, the difference is clear—the CrossFit Games and Rogue Invitational are not even in the same ballpark when it comes to viewership. And TYR WZA might be playing a different sport.
A closer look at live stream figures (excluding reposted individual events) shows that CrossFit’s peak year was 2020, with a staggering 17.7 million views during the ‘Covid Games’. If you don’t want to include 2020 for some reason, fine, then take 2021’s 10.4 million. In contrast, Rogue’s best year was 2021, with just over 3 million views.
Even in their worst years, the disparity is glaringly obvious. In 2019, Rogue garnered only 1.4 million views, while the CrossFit Games achieved 5.2 million—a year when broadcasting rights were widely distributed. Interestingly, that 5.2 million figure comes solely from Rogue’s own YouTube channel and would be even greater if we included the many, many live stream sources for that year.
Between 2019 and 2024, CrossFit’s lowest total (5.2 million) still significantly outperformed Rogue’s best (3.1 million), with total views amounting to 56 million for CrossFit and 12.5 million for Rogue—a staggering gap.
One consideration you may want to make is the length of the competitions. The CrossFit Games typically span more days, potentially inflating their figures. However, even when comparing daily averages for each year, the Games come out ahead. Rogue’s best daily average was in 2021, surpassing 1 million views for the first & only time. Meanwhile, the CrossFit Games have consistently averaged more than 1.3 million daily views, with the 2020 anomaly averaging 5.9 million per day.
CrossFit vs. Rogue Direct Comparison
| Views (in millions) | ||
| Year | CrossFit Games | Rogue Invitational |
| 2019 | 5.2 | 1.4 |
| 2020 | 17.7 | 1.3 |
| 2021 | 10.4 | 3.1 |
| 2022 | 11.0 | 2.4 |
| 2023 | 6.5 | 2.6 |
| 2024 | 5.5 | 1.8 |
| Total | 56.3 | 12.6 |
TYR Wodapalooza’s figures are even lower. The Miami edition’s best daily average was 0.8 million views in 2023.
It seems childish to compare the Miami figures to either the Games or Rogue – so I took a peak at last year’s CrossFit Semifinals which achieved:
- 1.8 million viewers for the Syndicate Crown
- 1.3 million for the West Coast Classic
- 1.0 million for the French Throwdown
- 0.9 million for Torian
- 400,000 from three smaller semifinals.
In contrast, the SoCal TYR Cup only managed 0.4 million views in total. A figure which is more in keeping with the 2024 Crash Crucible’s 100,000 views from The Sevan Podcast broadcasts.
In short, Spin was right while O’Keefe’s assertion was off the mark. CrossFit Games still dominate in terms of viewership, maintaining a monopoly on ‘eyeballs’ in the sport.
Note: All figures are accurate as of January 4th, 2025, and sourced from YouTube. Individual event reposts are not included.
In fairness, O’Keefe referred to concurrency numbers, which reflect the number of people watching live. These figures are not readily available, but from a sponsor’s perspective, a view is valuable whether it’s live or a year later.
