One of the largest esports events concluded on August 25 with the final competition at the 2024 Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia, marking the end of an extensive series that featured 21 tournaments across 20 different titles. Including popular games like Dota 2, PUBG Mobile, Counter-Strike 2, and Street Fighter 6.
As anticipated, certain titles and teams drew more attention than others, contributing significantly to the event’s success. Esports Charts has compiled data on the top tournaments of this summer’s extravaganza. Which is set to return in 2025, promising to be even bigger and better.
MOST WATCHED EVENTS AT ESPORTS WORLD CUP 2024
Top Competitions at the 2024 Esports World Cup by Hours Watched (HW) and Peak Viewers (PV)
Leading the list is the EWC X MLBB Mid Season Cup 2024. Which set a record with the largest prize pool in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang history at $3 million, amassing 29.1 million hours watched. The event featured top teams from regional MPL leagues and national qualifiers from countries like Mongolia, China, and Myanmar. Although it was the first time this mid-season championship was held outside Southeast Asia. It couldn’t surpass its predecessor, the MLBB Southeast Asia Cup, in various metrics. It ended as the third most popular MSC event and the fourth most-watched, largely due to the disappointing performance of Indonesian teams, a key audience demographic for the game.
Next is the Riyadh Masters 2024, which recorded 26.3 million hours watched, making it the most-watched Dota 2 tournament of 2024 thus far. Despite boasting the largest prize pool of any tournament at EWC 2024, totaling $5 million, and featuring top European teams crucial to the game’s viewership, it failed to match last year’s audience reach, with declines in average concurrent viewers (down 11%), peak viewership (down 29%), and total watch time (down 14.14%).
In third place is the Esports World Cup 2024 for League of Legends, where eight of the world’s best teams competed for a $1 million prize pool. T1 maintained its dominance in the global scene. Helping the EWC x LoL become one of the game’s more popular competitions over the past two seasons. Gen.G also experienced its first loss in 24 games to Top Esports Gaming in the Quarterfinals, with its previous defeat occurring on February 14. Despite being only the 20th by watch time among LoL competitions over the past two seasons, this event remains one of the title’s most popular tournaments since 2023.
4th place
The Esports World Cup 2024 for Counter-Strike ranks fourth, being the last tournament to surpass the 10 million hours watched mark. A lineup of star-studded teams, G2 Esports’ new roster, and unexpected Playoffs results contributed to its success, surpassing last year’s metrics. Additionally, Natus Vincere, the game’s most followed team and the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 champion. Continued its winning streak by defeating rival G2 Esports in the finals. Over the past two years, this event ranks among the 20 most-watched in the game, largely due to its shorter airtime, though it is the fourth most-watched competition this year among events with at least $1 million in prize money.
Finally, the PUBG Mobile World Cup 2024 rounds out the top five, making it the second mobile esports event on this leaderboard. It was the most popular PUBG Mobile event this year, thanks to a long-awaited victory for Brazil’s Alpha7 Esports. One of the most consistent teams in recent years. The event also featured the important announcement that the game’s world championship finals would be held at the ExCel London arena on December 7 and 8. However, compared to the last two years, when the PUBG Mobile World Invitational was part of the Gamers8 festival, it fell just short of matching the 2023 edition’s watch time. With underperforming prominent teams contributing to lower online viewership.
MOST POPULAR EVENTS AT ESPORTS WORLD CUP 2024
Top Matches from the Leading Tournaments at EWC 2024
Most of the most-watched competitions also ranked as the most popular, led by the MSC 24, which reached 2.38 million peak viewers. The top match was between Falcons AP.Bren and Selangor Red Giants, with the latter securing a historic win for Malaysia, marking the country’s first international victory in MLBB tournaments.
The EWC x LoL follows, with 1.11 million peak viewers during the Grand Final between T1 and Top Esports Gaming. This was their first meeting since 2020, and T1’s victory helped ensure the event’s success.
The EWC x CS2 tournament comes in third, peaking at 756.7K concurrent viewers during the final clash between G2 Esports and Natus Vincere. This match also ranked as the game’s fourth most popular tournament this year, with the rivalry between the two teams driving the viewership spike.
The PUBG Mobile World Cup 2024 ranks fourth, with 566.1K peak viewers during Round 4 on Day 1 of the Finals. It became PUBG Mobile’s most popular event this year and the fourth-most popular since 2023. One highlight was the performance of Tianba, the Peacekeeper Elite League Spring 2024 champion, who finished third despite not winning a single round in the Main Tournament.
Rounding off the list is the Honor of Kings Invitational Midseason 2024, another mobile esports event that saw 356.5K peak viewers during the Playoffs Semifinals between KPL Dream Team and All Gamers.HK. The showmatch between Team Honor and Team Kings, featuring famous pro players and influencers, was the most popular event of the tournament. This competition also set a new record as the most successful in the game’s esports history. Surpassing the previous record holder by 99.5% in terms of peak viewers and outperforming the nearest hours-watched challenger by over 32%.
