The League of Legends 2023 Mid-Season Invitational Breaks Viewership Records
The bracket stage of the League of Legends 2023 Mid-Season Invitational kicked off on May 9 with a highly anticipated matchup between G2 Esports and Gen.G. The event, which featured a new format this year, attracted an unprecedented number of viewers.
According to EsportsCharts, over 1.37 million viewers tuned in to watch the match live, surpassing all previous viewership records for the MSI since its inception in 2015. In fact, the only matches that have garnered higher viewership were the semifinals and grand finals of past MSI events.
The match between G2 Esports and Gen.G also recorded the sixth highest concurrent viewer count in MSI history, just falling short of last year’s T1 vs G2 semifinal and the DPlus KIA vs MAD Lions semifinal in 2021.
What’s even more remarkable is that the MSI is attracting record numbers while competing against the rival esport CS:GO. Despite both MSI and the BLAST Paris Major Challenger Stage matches being live at the same time, the BLAST Major’s peak viewership only reached slightly over 600,000 viewers.
Looking ahead, it seems highly likely that this year’s MSI will exceed the two million viewership mark achieved during the grand finals of the 2022 event between T1 and Royal Never Give Up.
The new format of the MSI has been a significant factor in generating higher engagement. Instead of the previous round-robin group and rumble stages, teams now compete in two double-elimination brackets, with the main bracket featuring best-of-five matches.
Riot Games also made an unprecedented move by extending co-streaming rights to popular community streamers, such as LS, IWDominate, Caedrel, and Sneaky. This decision has undoubtedly contributed to the increased viewership, as these streamers have attracted a significant number of viewers to their personal Twitch channels.
Furthermore, Riot Games strategically scheduled the matches to cater to the European and Asian audiences, with matches starting during lunchtime locally in Europe and in the evening prime time for Asian viewers. While this schedule may less favorable for American viewers, who have to watch full-length best-of-five matches ending at midday CT, it has not deterred the overall viewership.
Despite some complaints from the community about the earlier match times, there is a strong possibility of setting a new MSI viewership record later in the bracket, especially with a favorable weekend schedule and a break day in between stages of the CS:GO Major.
Overall, the League of Legends 2023 Mid-Season Invitational has been a roaring success, attracting record-breaking viewership and delivering intense matches for esports fans worldwide.
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