I sit back, crack open a cold beer, open a bag of chips and turn on the Livestream to watch my favorite team. Sounds familiar to most, but we aren't talking football here! While some have never heard of eSports, others have been attending tournaments for years. eSports events break audience records all over the world, every year.
Who has the most viewers and what nation has the most fans? Naturally the viewership depends on what teams qualify for a tournament. For Germany, teams from the eSports organization SK Gaming are regularly in finals and draw viewers in. Most of the time , successful teams will represent entire continents and attract the spectators.
ESPORT: THE MOST POPULAR SPECTATOR SPORT
The League of Legends World Cup Final (LoL World Cup) 2018 broke audience records compared to other established sports events in the same year:
- 104 million viewers watched the Super Bowl in America.
- 163 million spectators wanted to see the World Cup final between France and Croatia.
- Over 205 million viewers tuned in when the best two eSport teams in the world met in League of Legends.
Since then the LoL World Cup continues to expect growing viewership. The numbers of viewers on YouTube and Twitch has almost doubled and viewership forecasts that it is an ever growing field. Numbers in Germany show that the people who have already watched an eSport game has increased significantly over the past few years.
LoL is one of the most popular games in the eSports scene, but other games are increasing in popularity also.
MOST VIEWED ESPORT-EVENTS 2019
- 47 million spectators saw the FIFA eWorld Cup 2019.
- In 2018 around 66 million viewers watched The International (TI), the 2018 World Championship of the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena)
- Over a two-week period, 195 million people tuned in when Counter Strike: Global Offensive saw several teams compete for the $ 1 million prize
THE NUMBERS WITHOUT CHINA
The figures outside of China are only a fraction of the size. LoL's numbers shrink to 2.6 million viewers at the largest spike. The Fortnite World Cup has 2.3 million spectators, making it one of the most important eSports events.Figures from China are not only comparatively high, but also unreliable, as several companies report the numbers. Their numbers appear less and less in representative statistics.
