The 2023 LoL World Championship group stage just ended and it was a huge success. More viewers than ever tuned in to watch!
The 2023 LoL Worlds are underway and the group stage has just concluded with the remaining eight teams set to compete in the knockout bracket. This year, Riot decided to change things around by introducing a new format to the World Championship and new data suggest that this was the right move.
This year, instead of a regular group phase, Riot added in a Swiss stage, which meant more meaningful games and less best-of-one matches. Now, esports charts revealed that there has been a huge increase in viewership.
LoL Worlds 2023: Viewership Increased
2022 was a disappointment in terms of viewership. According to stat website esports charts, the average viewers, peak viewers and hours watched were all down from the previous year, but 2023 seems to have invigorated viewership numbers.
In a recent blog post, it was revealed that peak viewers during the 2023 group stage, now Swiss stage, were up by 40% compared to 2022. The top match from this year was, of course, T1 Esports against BiliBili Gaming, with the second seed of both the LCK and LPL going head-to-head.
#Worlds2023 has experienced one of the most successful Group Stages of any Worlds event to date.Here is how it looks compared to last year! Full recap here:https://t.co/vhc9RPvCrX pic.twitter.com/bJysSXVOda
— Esports Charts (@EsportsCharts) October 30, 2023
While the English peak did go down this year, it could be due to there being more co-streams in other languages as well and many viewers prefering to watch in their native tongue. Add in your favorite content creator co-streaming, and you'll have viewers more likely tuning in to those streams than the official English language stream they might have otherwise watched.
While there were fewer games with the Swiss stage compared to the regular group stage from previous years, the hours watched increased by almost 30%. This is likely due to the games being more meaningful than before.
One match will have a much greater impact on the Swiss stage than one best of one in a group stage, which means viewers are more likely to tune in and not want to miss anything.
Overall, it's looking like the 2023 League of Legends World Championship will be another record-breaking year in terms of viewership. League of Legends esports is well and alive it seems.
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