The recent RLCS 2024 World Championship viewership data revealed an interesting trend. The match between G2 Stride and Karmine Corp during the playoffs drew more viewers than the event’s grand finals, surpassing it by over 100,000 concurrent viewers. Karmine Corp’s founder and content creator, Kamet0, played a significant role in this, helping the match stand out even more than the championship final itself.
While it’s typical for viewership to rise as playoffs progress, occasionally, earlier matches attract the most attention. The reasons vary, from content creator-backed teams to matchups featuring top organizations from major esports regions. Esports Charts has analyzed data from several esports to explore instances where matches outside the finals achieved the highest viewership.
MOBILE LEGENDS: BANG BANG – SUCCESS THROUGH REGIONAL AUDIENCES
Esports Charts examined popular events where peak viewership occurred outside the grand finals, with League of Legends and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang being prime examples. At the M4 World Championship, the Upper Bracket Semi-Finals between Blacklist International and RRQ Hoshi peaked at 4.27 million viewers. Driven by the combined Indonesian and Filipino audiences, both major markets in ML:BB.
RRQ Hoshi also made the list with their M3 World Championship match against ONIC PH, peaking at 3.19 million viewers. Similarly, their MPL Indonesia match against EVOS Legends during Season 9 outperformed the finals, reaching 2.85 million viewers. Partly due to an intense storyline where RRQ narrowly avoided defeat in a high-stakes match.
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS – BIGGEST MATCHES, BIGGEST AUDIENCES
In the 2019 League of Legends World Championship, the semi-final between G2 Esports and T1 attracted more viewers than the final, thanks to the matchup between two powerhouse teams from Europe and Korea. G2 and T1 were dominant in their respective regions, creating a highly anticipated clash of titans that drew immense attention.
The 2024 and 2023 Mid-Season Invitationals (MSI) had similar outcomes. In both cases, T1’s elimination by Bilibili Gaming in the Lower Bracket Final attracted more viewers than the all-Chinese grand finals,. With T1’s fanbase across Korea and other Asian regions playing a major role.
In Counter-Strike, teams like NAVI have consistently drawn high viewership, especially with star player s1mple on the roster. At the IEM Rio Major 2022, NAVI’s quarter-final match against FURIA reached 1.43 million peak viewers. Capitalizing on the excitement of FURIA playing on home soil in Brazil. Even at the BLAST Premier Global Final 2020, NAVI’s match against Team Vitality peaked higher than their finals matchup against Astralis, as s1mple’s star power and a close game fueled fan engagement.
DOTA 2 – COMPETITIVE MATCHES DRIVE VIEWERSHIP
Team Liquid’s match against LGD.Forever Young at The International 2017’s Lower Bracket Final was more popular than their grand final sweep against NewBee, as the competitive nature of the match attracted more viewers. A similar trend occurred at the WePlay AniMajor, where T1 and Evil Geniuses’ close Lower Bracket Final outperformed the grand final, which featured a Chinese team and wasn’t as widely tracked.
VALORANT – SENTINELS OUTGROW THE SCENE
In Valorant, Sentinels have consistently been one of the most-watched teams, largely due to their star-studded roster and support from prominent content creators. Their opening match against The Guard at the VCT 2022: North America Last Chance Qualifier had the highest viewership of the event, with creators like tarik and shroud boosting audience numbers. This trend continued at the VCT 2021: Stage 3 Masters Berlin, where their group stage matches against G2 Esports were more popular than the grand final.
In summary, viewership spikes outside of grand finals can be attributed to three main factors: ideal matchups between teams from the largest regions, compelling storylines that engage fans, and the massive popularity of certain organizations or players. These elements, more than the title of “Grand Finals,” are often what drive esports viewership to its peak.
