2024 Worlds Swiss Stage Audience Grows 36%

The group stage of the 2024 World Championship has wrapped up, and the League of Legends World Championship has shattered several viewership records again, showing no signs of slowing down. This year, the average viewership of Worlds increased by 36% compared to last year, and the peak hit over 3 million for the first time in Swiss Stage history.

Eight teams have advanced to the Knockout Stage. On October 13, three final series were played: Bilibili Gaming defeated G2 Esports, Weibo Gaming overcame Dplus, and FlyQuest triumphed over Team Liquid in an American derby. This will be the second time for Bilibili Gaming and Weibo Gaming in the Knockout Stage, while it's FlyQuest's first playoff appearance.

LNG Gaming and Gen.G were the first to qualify for the Knockout Stage, each securing three wins in their Swiss Stage matches. They were later joined by Hanwha Life Esports, T1, and Top Esports.

Almost all teams from China and South Korea made it to the playoffs (except for Dplus), while European teams have missed the final stage of the tournament for the second year in a row.

Viewership statistics of Worlds 2024 Swiss Stage

Worlds 2024 showcased impressive stats during the Swiss Stage, with average viewership surpassing 1.5 million and peak concurrent viewers hitting 3 million. Additionally, all metrics for Worlds 2024 saw growth, from the number of unique broadcast channels to online viewership across different languages.

Most popular matches of 2024 Worlds Swiss Stage

Worlds 2024 is already showing some notable differences from Worlds 2023. First, YouTube outpaced Twitch in peak viewership during the Swiss Stage. Second, peak viewership for Vietnamese surpassed that of Korean and English for the first time ever.

The introduction of new platforms like NimoTV and CHZZK has also had a positive impact, generating about 6.5% of the total Hours Watched for the tournament. TikTok streams are gaining popularity as well, racking up over 1.2 million HW this year.

Viewer records for teams: Seven participants in the Swiss Stage set new records for match viewership. PaiN Gaming, PSG Talon, GAM Esports, Team Liquid, FlyQuest, Hanwha Life Esports, and Top Esports Gaming all achieved historic highs. The last three teams will have a chance to break their records again in the Knockout Stage.

Broadcast language records: Several languages set new viewership records in League of Legends (or came very close). During the Swiss Stage, the Portuguese language record for League of Legends tournaments was updated to 454,600 Peak Viewers, largely thanks to community casting by popular Brazilian streamer Baiano, which even outperformed the official CBLOL channel.

Vietnamese broadcasts were also very close to a historic record, peaking at 803,300 viewers — just shy of last year’s record of 805,300 during Worlds 2023. However, this record could still be broken in the Knockout Stage, where Vietnamese fans are sure to be cheering for T1.

Channel viewership records: Several popular community casters broke records during Worlds 2024. For example, Caedrel, the top English-speaking League of Legends caster on Twitch, pulled in over 301,000 viewers during the match between G2 Esports and Bilibili Gaming. In that same match, German community caster Tolkin set a personal best with 72,800 concurrent viewers. Vietnamese community casters Hoàng Luân, Văn Tùng, and Optimus also achieved their highest numbers during the tournament. Even Brazilian streamer Baiano set a new record on YouTube, now attracting more viewers there than on Twitch.

Knockout Stage matches will run from October 17 to November 2. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be hosted at the Adidas Arena in Paris, while the grand final will take place at the O2 Arena in London. All series will be played in a best-of-five format.