After an incredible month of competition, the 2020 World Championship has finally concluded with Korea back on top of the pro League of Legends world. And it was a widely successful event with the tournament reaching a peak viewership of 3.8 million people, according to Esports Charts.
This peak was achieved during the grand finals between China’s Suning Gaming and Korea’s DAMWON Gaming, where the powerhouse LCK team took down their opponents in four hard-fought matches. The series had an average of over 2.6 million viewers with 14 million hours watched, according to Esports Charts.
This isn’t the highest peak viewership for a League World Championship, however. Last year, T1’s semifinal series against G2 Esports managed to accrue a peak viewership of 3.9 million. The grand finals between G2 and the eventual 2019 champions, FunPlus Phoenix, was just below that with a 3.7 million peak.
There are a few potential reasons why this year’s finals couldn’t break the 3.9 million mark set in 2019. First, the teams that were competing this year didn’t have many superstar names. There were plenty of young players who made their mark on the global League scene, but there weren’t a lot of known commodities that could attract casual viewers to watch.
Additionally, the finals had an early start time for fans in North America and many people wouldn’t have been surprised to see viewership suffer a bit because of this. But hitting a 3.8 million peak is still impressive given the circumstances.
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