Esports Viewership Statistics: How does it Compare to the Super Bowl?
When it comes to evaluating the success of the esports industry, viewership statistics play a crucial role. The number of people watching major esports events directly reflects the popularity and interest in these leagues. For example, the League of Legends World Championship can attract tens of millions of viewers for a single best-of-five series, depending on the teams and location.
Comparing the viewership of League esports to the NFL’s Super Bowl is an interesting way to gauge the popularity of traditional sports versus esports. The NFL is a highly popular sport in North America, and the ongoing debate of whether esports should be considered sports adds further curiosity to this comparison.
How Close is the Competitive League Scene to the Super Bowl?
Let’s delve into the numbers and see how the competitive League scene compares to the viewership of the Super Bowl. Surprisingly, the difference is not as vast as one might expect. The Super Bowl typically attracts around 110 million unique viewers, as reported by Sports Media Watch. While there was a dip in 2018 with only 103 million viewers, the numbers have consistently reached over 100 million since 2011. Previously, the norm hovered around 90 million viewers.
In contrast, the League World Championship (Worlds) managed to gather 99.6 million viewers for the final series in 2018, according to stats provided by Riot Games, the developer behind League of Legends. This means that the difference between the Super Bowl and League’s biggest event in 2018 was a mere 3.4 million people. The Super Bowl had 103 million viewers, while League’s Worlds had 99.6 million.
Consistent Viewership and Comparing Past Worlds
Unfortunately, Riot Games does not consistently provide statistics for every year and event, making it difficult to compare the progression of Worlds with the Super Bowl on a yearly basis.
However, looking at League’s recent Worlds tournaments, they have consistently garnered high numbers. In 2017, the semifinals attracted 80 million live viewers, as reported by LoL Esports. Riot Games also shared viewing statistics for the 2017 Mid-Season Invitational, although they did not specify the viewership for individual series within the tournament. They revealed that the entire MSI 2017 tournament reached a total of 364 million viewers. The availability of these statistics seems to be inconsistent.
Future Comparison with 2019 Super Bowl
We are currently unable to compare the viewership of 2018’s Worlds to the 2019 Super Bowl, as Sports Media Watch has not released data for the latter. Once this data becomes available, we will update this story with a comparison between the two.
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