How to Run an Esports Watch Party

August 15, 2025 | Written by eviljonbob

Whether you’re looking to run a small watch party or fill a venue with fans from across your city, this guide shares practical steps and examples to help you plan, promote, and host a successful esports watch party. Drawing from ThirdSite’s experience running multiple Counter-Strike events, you’ll find tips you can adapt to any esport to bring players and fans together.

About ThirdSite

ThirdSite is a Counter-Strike (CS2) community organization based in Ottawa, Canada. We’ve hosted multiple in-person watch parties, starting with small gatherings and growing to larger events with sponsors. Our goal is to bring CS fans together and grow a strong local esports scene.

What Is a Watch Party?

A watch party is a social gathering of a live event, in our case esports. Often with food, drinks, and sometimes other activities alongside the stream.

TL;DR

Pick the Right Event – Choose a big esports tournament with teams people know. Check time zone and avoid holiday weekends.
Find a Venue – Sports bars, LAN centers, community halls, or small theatres can work. Make sure it has good screens, sound, and internet.
Add Interactive Elements – Trivia or small games between maps keep people engaged.
Work with Community Partners – Local esports groups and student clubs can help promote in exchange for small logo placement or shoutouts.
Create an Event Page – Use Eventbrite, Facebook Events, or similar to share details and track RSVPs.
Promote Your Event – Start with local Discords and community groups, then expand to Reddit, social media, and news sites.
Capture the Moment – Take photos and videos during the event to share later and show sponsors.
Gather Feedback – Use quick surveys or informal chats to learn what worked and what can improve.

1. Choosing the Right Esports Event

At ThirdSite, we always plan around the grand finals of a tournament because they are usually the most exciting part and the best at drawing a crowd. You can host watch parties for earlier matches, but finals offer the biggest payoff for the planning effort.

What to Look For:

Major Events with Live Crowds – CS Majors, Worlds, or The International create a great atmosphere. Avoid studio-only events, which often feel flat.
Well-Known Teams – Familiar teams attract more interest. You won’t know exactly which teams will make the match you’re hosting, but it’s worth checking which teams are attending the event.
Avoid Holidays – If you can avoid major holidays or long weekends, as people may be away.
Time Zone – Check the match start time in your local time zone. Many events take place overseas (especially if you live in NA), so try to pick an event that’s not too early or too late.

2. Finding a Venue

You don’t need a giant theatre. A space with reliable internet, a good screen, and enough room for people to watch and hang out will work.

Best Options:

Sports Bars – Our go-to choice. Big screens, plenty of seating, and food and drinks available on site. Many will provide the space for free.
We started small with a private room at a local sports bar for 20 people. It was a great way to test out running a watch party and see if there was interest in our local area before booking a larger venue.
LAN Centers or Gaming Cafés – If your city has one, these can be an easy option with the necessary equipment already in place.

Other Options:

Community Spaces – Community halls or school classrooms can work, but they often charge fees and don’t provide food or drinks, which means more planning. They may also lack a good screen and reliable internet. You might still be able to secure a school classroom for free, especially if you’re only inviting people from within the school.
Movie Theatres – Visually impressive, but often expensive. Smaller theatres may lack internet, so always confirm before booking.

Key Considerations:

Reliable Internet – Make sure it’s stable and fast enough to handle streaming.
Screens & Sound – A single large central screen creates the best atmosphere. Confirm the venue has working audio.
Food & Drinks – Bars and cafés handle this for you. For other venues, you may need to arrange snacks or catering. Multi-hour events (ours have run over 5 hours) benefit from having food available, as it helps attendees stay longer.
Accessibility – Ensure good parking or public transit options.

Tip: Visit the venue in advance and run a full setup check for stream, audio, and display. A short test can save you from last-minute headaches.

3. Add Interactive Elements

While not necessary, filling downtime between maps or breaks with an activity can keep attendees engaged.

One easy option is running a trivia game. We use Blooket (free, not sponsored, just the one that didn’t ask for my credit card).

We theme our questions around CS, the tournament, or the host region (e.g., Romanian CS trivia during PGL Cluj-Napoca). If you have a sponsor providing prizes, running a trivia is a great way to hand them out.

Looking for CS trivia question ideas? You can check out our past trivia questions here and use or adapt them for your own CS events.

4. Sponsors and Community Partners

For your first event, don’t stress about sponsorship. Focus on hosting a smooth, enjoyable event. Once you’ve proven it works, sponsors become easier to reach out to.

As you can imagine, sending cold emails asking for free products is a tough sell when you’re new. But with one or two successful events, you can approach companies with real attendance numbers, photos, and examples of brand placement.

What Worked for Us:

Target Game-Specific Brands – For later events, we reached out to companies in the CS space. We partnered with Leetify (*ongoing partner of ThirdSite) and Boxr, using their products as trivia prizes.
Leverage Community Supporters – Local or regional esports teams, community organizations, and student esport clubs can be some of your best promoters. They are often happy to help in exchange for a little visibility.

For our community supporters, we partnered with groups like Esport Canada, CU Esports, RCAF Game Force, and others. They shared our event through their channels, and in return, we featured their logos on a “Supporters” banner and gave them shoutouts during the watch party.

It’s a simple way to tap into existing audiences while also building goodwill within the scene. If your city/region has similar groups, don’t be shy about reaching out. Most will be glad to support an event that benefits the local community.

5. Set Up an Event Page

If you’re inviting more than a few friends, a proper event page adds legitimacy and makes event management easier.

We use Eventbrite to share details, track RSVPs, and create a single shareable link. Facebook Events or Meetup may also work.

Include:

Event name, date, and time
What you’re watching (e.g., CS2 Major Grand Final)
Venue location and accessibility info (parking access / public transit)
Extras like trivia, giveaways, or sponsors

Need a reference?

You can view our past Eventbrite pages here to get a feel for what to include and how to structure it.

Eventbrite won’t bring in a lot of traffic on its own given the type of event, but it makes your event feel official and professional.

6. Promote the Event

Once your event page is ready, it’s time to get the word out. Promotion is critical, especially when you’re just starting out.

Start Local:
Begin with communities in your city or region:

University & College Discords – Many student groups have game-specific or events channels. This has been our single most effective way to get attendees.
Local Community Discords – Look for city-based servers or local esports organizations.

Note: Always DM an admin first to ask if it’s okay to post your event. Most are happy to help and may even feature it in the server announcement channel.

Expand Your Reach:
Once you’ve covered local groups, branch out to a wider audience. Just keep in mind that with free events, some people reserve multiple tickets with no intention of attending. If that happens, you can send a quick email to confirm.

Game-Specific Discords – For CS, examples include Mythic League, Fragadelphia, and NA:CS LANcord.
Reddit – Post in both game-specific subreddits (like r/GlobalOffensive) and your local city subreddit (e.g., r/Ottawa).
Social Media – Twitter/X, Instagram, and Facebook may not drive huge numbers at first, but they help you establish a presence over time.
Local Media & Esports News Sites – If your event has a strong community angle, your city’s paper or an esports news site might cover it. We’ve been featured in both our local paper and Dust2.us, so it’s worth sending a quick email.

Bonus: Want Even More Work for Yourself?
You can also list your event on local tourism websites (e.g., Tourism Ottawa) or national directories like To Do Canada. However, the effectiveness of these platforms for esports events is unclear, and they often require a longer lead time, sometimes up to a month, to get listed, but they might help attract the casuals.

Tips:

Use the same event link (e.g., Eventbrite) across all platforms for consistency.
Promotion takes time. It’s normal to feel like you’re not reaching many people at first.
Encourage attendees to follow your Discord or socials. This makes promoting your next event much easier.

7. Capture the Moment

While you’re at your watch party, remember to capture the moment. Photos and videos are great for promoting future events, sharing on your socials, and showing sponsors the impact.

8. Improve Every Time

No event will be perfect, and that’s fine. Ask for feedback through a quick Google Form. Common areas to refine include the venue choice (limited or expensive food/drink options, inconvenient location, etc.) and any side activities.

Keep at it, learn from each event, and make small tweaks every time.

9. Enjoy It – DAMMIT!

Yes, planning can take effort, but seeing people come together over the game you love, at an event you created, is one of the most rewarding parts of running a watch party.

Don’t get caught up in every tiny detail. Focus on making it the kind of event you’d want to attend and enjoy watching it all come together.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, this guide hasn’t scared you away from creating a watch party. With the steps laid out, it’s easier than it might seem.

You don’t need sponsors, a fancy venue, or even a budget to create something memorable. With a few passionate people and some basic planning, you can put together a great watch party. Whether it’s CS, League, R6, or any other esport, local events can foster genuine community. Start small, build on each event, and see where it takes you.

If you have questions, feel free to reach out at Contact@thirdsite.org or join the ThirdSite Discord server and DM eviljonbob.

Finally, if you’re thinking about creating a CS watch party here in North America, I’d love to connect and talk about how we could join forces.