The League of Legends (LoL) World Championship, or Worlds 2021, was a huge success. The tournament was held last weekend in China, and the final between EDward Gaming (EDG) and DWG KIA drew 4,018,720 concurrent viewers, setting a new record for LoL.
What’s more impressive is that those numbers do not include viewers from China.
The underdogs EDG took home the crown with a 3-2 victory. DWG KIA were the heavy favorites to reclaim their title from last year and become the second team ever to win it back to back.
Their semifinals match-up vs. T1 peaked at over 3.5 million viewers, mainly due to the clash between Faker and ShowMaker, considered by many as the “passing of the torch.” DWG KIA’s quarter-final duel with MAD ranked 3rd, with almost 2.3 million.
The winners EDG took home $489,500 in prize pool money. DWG KIA earned $333,750, while the No.3 and 4 teams, T1 and Gen. G Esports, received 178,000.
In addition to the record-breaking number of viewers, the 2021 Worlds accumulated a total of 174.8 million hours of streaming. The previous record for the game was at the Worlds 2020 with 3.8 million concurrent viewers and 139 million combined hours of viewership.
League of Legends is also very popular with bettors. The game receives the highest average bets, with $39.
Esports has been gaining popularity over the last few years. In 2019, there were an estimated 197 million regular viewers and 200 occasional viewers (397 million total), and the forecast is for 577 million viewers by 2024 (285.6m regular and 291.6m occasional viewers.)
