In the first half of 2024, mobile esports tournaments in Southeast Asia dominated the viewership rankings. With Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Arena of Valor leading the most-watched events. Battle royale mobile tournaments also secured spots in the top 10, highlighting the strong concentration of mobile esports audiences in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The highlight was MPL Indonesia Season 13, which underscored Mobile Legends: Bang Bang’s major impact on the Southeast Asian esports landscape. This season recorded 110.2 million hours watched and peaked at 2.25 million viewers, making it the second most-viewed MPL Indonesia event ever, trailing only last year’s tournaments.
Following MPL Indonesia, two Arena of Valor tournaments claimed the next top spots. The Arena of Glory Spring 2024 set a new peak viewership record with over 656,500 viewers. Meanwhile, the Arena of Valor Premier League 2024 also performed well, though it did not match the record-breaking figures from 2023.
In fourth place was MPL Philippines Season 13, another Mobile Legends: Bang Bang regional league. It reached just over 17.3 million hours watched, a notable drop from Season 10’s 26 million. However, Season 13 stood out for featuring collaborations with international teams like Team Liquid and Fnatic in the lead-up to the Esports World Cup.
Two PUBG Mobile Super League — SEA seasons landed mid-table, with the Spring season outperforming the Summer season across key metrics. This was largely due to a higher number of unique broadcast channels — 182 for Spring compared to 159 for Summer — and stronger performance in Indonesian and Malaysian broadcasts.
Malaysia
MPL Malaysia Season 13 was another top tournament, amassing 10.5 million hours watched and peaking at 631,000 viewers — both record highs for the Malaysian league. The season’s champions, Selangor Red Giants, went on to win the MLBB Mid Season Cup 2024 in Riyadh, earning one million dollars, the largest prize in the discipline.
The RoV Pro League 2024 Summer ranked eighth, with slight declines in hours watched and peak viewership compared to the previous year, but it saw a 21.7% rise in average viewership. Talon Esports won their fourth title, tying Bacon Time for the most championships in the region.
The Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2024, a PUBG Mobile battle royale tournament, generated over 9 million hours watched. While it slightly outperformed last year’s event, it did not surpass the 2021 record. Lastly, the Free Fire World Series — Southeast Asia Spring 2024 closed out the rankings with just over 8 million viewing hours and 310,000 peak viewers.
In total, the top 10 featured events from five different esports titles, reflecting the diverse nature of the mobile gaming market. Many of these games are closely tied to specific regions, which limits direct competition between similar genres in the mobile segment.
