League Worlds 2021 surpasses over 1 billion total hours watched, Riot says

Riot Games has revealed that this year’s League of Legends World Championship was viewed for over 1 billion total hours across 34 streaming platforms worldwide. The substantial number capped off a tournament in which Riot raised the bar in terms of viewership for its major esports event. 

In a video published by Riot earlier today, the League developer broke down statistics regarding this year’s World Championship, showcasing the fact that this year’s grand final match between DWG KIA of Korea and EDward Gaming of China was viewed by over 73 million people at its peak.  

The Worlds final was especially popular in China, with a strong majority of the match’s total viewership coming from the country. Approximately 69 million of the 73 million viewers of this year’s Worlds finals were from China, according to a previous report from Riot Games. 

The 1 billion hours of professional League watched during the entirety of Worlds spanned 121 games, the most ever played during the course of one World Championship. Beyond the tournament’s grand finals, other highly viewed matches included the semifinals between T1 and DWG KIA, as well as DWG KIA’s quarterfinal match with MAD Lions of the LEC, according to esports viewership tracking site Esports Charts. 

Worlds 2021 was moved into a bubble environment just weeks before its start date. The tournament was held entirely in Reykjavík, Iceland after having been planned to take place in several cities across China. Next year’s League World Championship will be held in North America, with the finals scheduled to take place in San Francisco.

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