The main event of the 2021 World Championship hasn’t even started yet, but it’s clear that the League of Legends community fully supports the fiesta that is the play-in stage of the tournament. Over the past four days, the event’s peak viewership has already exceeded one million, according to Esports Charts.
The match that brought in the highest number of viewers came on the second day of the event when the CBLOL’s RED Canids took on the LCK’s Hanwha Life Esports in front of a peak of 1.3 million fans. This is an incredible number to hit, especially since there aren’t any top three representatives from major regions playing just yet.
The support that the global League scene has for its smaller regions is out in full force and only bodes well for the viewership numbers for the rest of the tournament. In fact, multiple matches hit the one million viewer mark throughout the play-in stage. Infinity Esports’ match against HLE, LNG Esports’ showdown with HLE, Cloud9’s game against DetonatioN FocusMe, and DFM’s match against Unicorns of Love all surpassed one million spectators.
Granted, the play-in stage has already brought plenty of excitement for everyone involved. LNG struck first in the perpetual rivalry between China and Korea, Unicorns of Love upset C9 to force a tiebreaker match, and DFM became the first LJL team in Worlds history to qualify for the main stage.
With two intense matches coming up next featuring both HLE and C9 tomorrow, the viewership numbers should continue to rise as we progress through the event.
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