The eSports year 2021 is over and once again it broke all records. The online broadcasts of the tournaments have met with an unprecedented response. Let’s take a brief look back. We have compiled for them the five record tournaments of 2021.
PGL Major Tournament in Stockholm
The PGL Major tournament was played in Stockholm in November. The CSGO Counter Strike event has always set new records in previous years, which were broken again in 2021.
It reached the highest concurrent viewership in CSGO history, with a whopping 2,748,850 fans on Twitch screens. On average, 593,090 followers attended the matches in the Swedish capital. In total, the PGL Major boasts a time of 71,200,000 hours viewed.
Mobile Legends in Indonesia
Top numbers have the Mobile Legends platform Bang Bang are Southeast Asia. The game is similar to League of Legends, but is still relatively unknown in Europe. The most watched Bang Bang event was played between August and October, the MPL Indonesia League. Teams competed for a prize pool of $300,000. Fans watched a total of 76,940,000 hours. It is likely that the “mobile Bang Bang Legends” will make its way to Europe in the coming years.
The International 10
The highest-paying eSports tournament in 2021 was The International 10, so it’s no surprise that the Dota 2 event also took a special place in the fans’ favor. The International 10 was on air for a total of only 125 hours, but still managed a total view time of 107,230,000 hours. At the peak time, 2,740,000 followers were in front of the live stream at the same time.
League of Legends World Championship
Let’s move on to the absolute record holder in 2021 – the League of Legends World Championship tournament. The numbers dwarf any other eSports event. With 134 hours of airtime, the LoL World Championship garnered a staggering 174,820,000 hours of views. Peak viewership has topped 4 million users during the top times.
Valorant Champions Tour
The Valorant Champions Tour was played in December 2021 with 16 teams. It made it to the top ranks of broadcasts for the first time. The Champions Tour made it to 46,040,000 viewer hours – a record for Valorant.
This is why viewership numbers are important
Stream viewership numbers are extremely important for eSports organizers. The higher the fan numbers, the greater the revenue, of course, primarily from sponsors. If the money increases on the one hand, it can also be increased in the area of expenditure. The teams can expect even higher prize money in the future.
The record numbers of eSports broadcasts have also had a positive impact on the bookmakers balance sheets. The more users follow the competitions live, the more bets are placed. It can be assumed that other betting providers will take advantage of the hype and become sponsors of the eSports tournaments. Some well-known online bookmakers have already gone down this path.
The trend: what’s next? When looking into the future, you don’t have to be a great eSports prophet. In 2022, however, the records set last year will certainly be surpassed once again. The League of Legends World Championship should even expand its top position in the process.
