2024 HoK Championship ends as the game's most-watched esports event

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It's been a long and winding road, but the 2024 Honor of Kings season has ended on a viewership high at the 2024 Honor of Kings Championship. Based on the new concept built around the first Invitational Series season, it served as the successor to the original International Championship, finishing as the game's most-watched tournament ever.

For the first time, an Honor of Kings World Championship (or its equivalent competition) did not feature Chinese teams. That was because esports organizations from this powerhouse Asian country participated in the KPL Grand Finals, which would determine the best side of the ongoing King Pro League season.

Moreover, unlike in 2023, teams from any Arena of Valor leagues were absent. Instead, that game will have its global event, the Arena of Valor International Championship 2024, which will run from November to December.

  Black Shrew Esport became the first Malaysian team to win a global esports title (Image via HoK Global Esports on X)   

The 2024 Honor of Kings Championship witnessed some intense action between the 16 best teams from around the world across two weeks. Black Shrew Esport beat Dominator Esports 4:0 in the Grand Final to emerge as the first non-Chinese world champion in the game.

There was more history for the Malaysian side, as the triumph marked the country's first world title in esports. The side also became richer by $300,000, with the total prize pool of this Honor of Kings event standing at $1 million. The team's jungler MSKing was awarded the tournament MVP gong thanks to four MVP wins in the Playoffs.

 Some viewership insights from the 2024 Honor of Kings Championship  

The 2024 Honor of Kings Championship recorded 387K Peak Viewers during the Grand Final between Black Shrew Esport and Dominator Esports. This made it the second-most popular competition in the history of this MOBA offering, bettered only by the Honor of Kings Invitational Midseason 2024 held earlier this year at the Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia.

More impressively, with 3M Hours Watched the 2024 Honor of Kings Championship registered the title’s esports viewership record. It bettered the previous record holder, the above-mentioned EWC 2024 tournament, by 19.38%, aided by almost three times more airtime.

Compared to the Honor of Kings International Championship 2023, this year's event saw massive audience improvements across the board. Despite the number of match days coming down from 18 to 12, the number of channels covering the competition has increased more than tenfold.

It has to be remembered that at the start of the year, Honor of Kings — for years the dominant name in the Chinese MOBA market — was launched internationally. The results were almost instantaneous, with the exposure provided by international co-casters helping the game's matches reach a global audience.

This was seen at the International Championship 2023 as well, with the number of livestreaming platforms covering the games doubling from four to eight. TikTok was again the big mover, bringing massive online attention to the Honor of Kings competition.

Most watched and popular Honor of Kings tournaments of all time

English, Tagalog, and Indonesian have been the big beneficiaries of the game's globalization, and that was the trend here as well, with the trio of languages emerging as the most watched. The first two languages also reached new HoK esports PV marks thanks to the sheer number of co-casters covering the action.

Crucially, the game is making slow headway into the European region, with the tournament attracting minor Dutch, French, and Turkish online spectators. That was not the case at previous events in the game, and such regular exposure will only help grow this audience segment as more tournaments are held with access to a global audience.

Readers must also note that the HoK International Championship 2023 could have reached a higher peak concurrent viewership figure had the Chinese teams participated. While it remains to be seen what shape the next edition takes, for now, fans can rest assured knowing that the international expansion has gotten off to an encouraging start.