League of Legends has some of the most consistent viewership numbers when it comes to esports. Who would have imagined them to be so far ahead of the competition, though?
League of Legends is once again the king of esports. Did anyone expect anything less though? After breaking records in 2021 during the finals between DAMWON KIA and EDward Gaming, what else could we predict?
League of Legends has been top dog in the esports department for a while, but it’s scary to see just how far ahead of everyone else the MOBA is. With VALORANT also sporting good numbers in their first year, will Riot dominate every aspect of esports in the future?
LoL Esports Most Viewed Esports In 2021
According to Esports Charts, League of Legends was miles ahead of its competition in 2021 when it comes to viewership. Sure, their competitions couldn’t be held in front of an audience, and they had to move their biggest event out of China, but that didn’t stop Riot from putting on an insane event.
Throughout 2021, League of Legends esports accumulated over 664.16 million hours of watch time. This is an insane number, and what’s even crazier is that Esports Charts does not take Indian or Chinese streaming numbers into account.
League of Legends esports also sported the highest number in peak viewership during the 2021 League of Legends World Championship finals. Over 4 million fans tuned in to watch EDG bet DAMWON KIA in an exciting 5-game series.
Most watched esports games in 2021:@LeagueOfLegends@CSGO@MobileLegendsOL4 @DOTA25 @PUBGMOBILEDetailed results:https://t.co/pQRW8Qp0F0 pic.twitter.com/BxboccMSNY
— Esports Charts (@EsportsCharts) February 1, 2022
Mobile Gaming On The Rise
Mobile gaming continued it’s upward trend in 2021, with PUBG Mobile and Mobile Legends also making it into the top 5 most viewed esports. Both these games have huge followings in south-eastern Asia, where they got most of their viewership from.
Counter Strike and DOTA 2 also continue to look great, sporting extremely high viewership numbers. Those will likely increase as more people will get vaccinated and a sense of normalcy will roll over once more. More CS:GO and DOTA 2 events will take place in 2022 on a more regular basis once more, which will boost their numbers in 2022.
VALORANT, A Close 6th Place
The newest esports phenomena is VALORANT. 2021 was the first official cycle of the game's esport, and it has reached some insane numbers according to Esports Charts. It was only a few million hours short of reaching up to PUBG Mobile.
If the trend continues, then it is likely that VALORANT will be on the list of most-viewed esports in 2022 as well. With the constant inclusion of new agents, as well as upgrade from their tournament schedule, VALORANT will likely rule the esports world alongside League of Legends.
Can anyone even stop Riot from dominating esports at this point?