Up, up, and away.
A known record-breaker, Riot Games has done it again with its premier international event the League of Legends World Championship. The annual competition saw the best of the best in League of Legends’ 2019 season duke it out for all of the marbles—and the Summoner’s Cup, with a trophy case courtesy of Louis Vuitton.
Per Riot’s own data collection, the World Championship Finals reached a record-breaking 21.8 million Average Minute Audience (AMA). This is a very strong indicator that League—and esports as a whole—is still on the rise, contrary to many media outlets’ narrative that the industry is a bubble waiting to burst.
During the multi-stage event, “fans across the world watched more than 1 billion hours of content during the 5 weeks of competition,” according to Riot. These insane numbers are helped by just how popular League is in densely populated countries like China and Vietnam, and a Chinese team lifting the trophy for a consecutive year likely aided in the audience appeal.
Statistics show that the League 2018 World Championship had a total of 83 million hours watched. The 20 percent increase this year is an indication of just how expansive this growth can still be.
League is still on the rise and is the gem in the crown that is a burgeoning esports industry. Perhaps 2020 will be the year to truly break records, as Shanghai will play host to the event—something that Riot executives have already promised to be an achievement for the ages.
