LoL MSI 2023 Viewership Explodes During T1 vs MAD Lions

MSI 2023 is underway and this is already looking like a successful tournament in comparison to previous years.

T1 vs mad lions header
LoL MSI 2023: The viewership is already breaking records. | © Riot Games

T1 versus MAD Lions was the second match of the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational Bracket Stage. With a brand-new format, and eight incredibly talented teams in the running for the title of MSI 2023 champions, the competition is heating up and people are tuning in to watch.

MSI 2023 has already been a huge success thanks to the new format with way more best-of-three and best-of-five series than ever before, keeping fans engaged and tuning in. This looks to be a record-breaking tournament in more ways than just one.

LoL MSI 2023: T1 vs MAD Lions One Of Most Viewed Games

Usually the finals of a tournament are the most-viewed game, which is understandable. Everyone wants to know who will take home the big trophy. But we're only two days into the Bracket Stage of MSI 2023 and we've already got record-breaking viewership numbers.

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The first match between Gen.G and G2 Esports on the first day raked in a peak viewership of over 1.3 million, which was more than the third-highest viewership from MSI 2022.

Day 2 of MSI 2023 had even better numbers with T1 and MAD Lions facing off. According to esportscharts, the game peaked at 1.46 million viewers, meaning that the second day of the Bracket Stage already had more viewership than any game of MSI 2022, other than the finals. With these numbers already in the first round of the series, we can only imagine how they'll continue to rise.

The next matches will be between two Chinese and North American teams, so we're curious how the viewership for those games will look. MSI 2023 is taking place in Europe, meaning the broadcast times are ideal for Europe and the Asian market, so we're curious to see whether NA fans pull through.

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Unfortunately, we do not have any numbers for Chinese viewership, so we can only base the findings off Twitch, YouTube and other streaming platforms, but games featuring LPL teams will likely have the highest viewership due to the immense popularity of esports in China.

The third game of the first Bracket Stage round will be between C9 and BiliBili Gaming. The game is set to start at 2:00 pm CEST/8:00 am EST on May 11, 2023.

Sabrina Ahn

Sabrina Ahn is the League of Legends and Riftfeed Lead. During her time at Concordia University in 2014 she fell in love with LoL and is playing it since – how she hasn't lost her sanity is still unclear....