The second day of the Knockout Stage at the 2024 World Championship was just as thrilling as the first. After an all-Chinese showdown on Day 1, the second quarterfinal featured a high-stakes rivalry between a South Korean team and its biggest regional competitor, China.
Hanwha Life Esports, fresh off their LCK Summer 2024 victory, faced Bilibili Gaming, the LPL Summer 2024 champions. Despite barely advancing from the Swiss Stage with a 3-2 record, Bilibili Gaming delivered a surprising performance, mirroring the upsets seen on Day 1, as they drew first blood in this intense China-Korea faceoff.
Viewership Insights from the Second Quarterfinal of the 2024 World Championship
Though Bilibili Gaming’s win may have been unexpected, their ability to topple an in-form Hanwha Life Esports captured the attention of fans worldwide. The China-Korea rivalry fueled significant viewership, with the match reaching 2.57 million peak viewers, a 38.25% increase from the first quarterfinal on October 17.
Average watch time also saw a notable increase of 25.45%, with consistent airtime between the two matches. While nearly all languages showed slight upticks, the surge in Korean viewership was the most significant, jumping by 62.5% compared to the earlier quarterfinals.
It’s important to note that data from Chinese streaming platforms are often unreliable for global comparisons. As such, the Chinese-language viewership statistics used in this analysis are sourced from global platforms like Twitch and YouTube.
Unlike the back-and-forth nature of the first quarterfinal, where teams were tied at 1:1 before one pulled ahead, the second quarterfinal saw Bilibili Gaming rally from a game down to win three consecutive matches, securing a spot against Weibo Gaming in another all-Chinese semifinal.
For Hanwha Life Esports, it was a disappointing outcome. Their previous World Championship appearance in 2021 saw them finish in the 5th to 8th bracket, and while they had promising victories this year over G2 Esports and FlyQuest, a deeper run in the tournament was not to be.
The 2024 World Championship is shaping up to be another classic, with overall viewership growing across the stages. With a Chinese team already guaranteed a spot in the Grand Final and two South Korean giants, T1 and Gen.G, still in contention, this year’s event could potentially surpass the record-breaking numbers set in 2023.