EWC x MLBB Women's Invitational has become the most popular tournament in women's esports in 2024

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The EWC x MLBB Women’s Invitational 2024, held in Saudi Arabia, has concluded and is widely regarded as one of the most successful tournaments in the series' history and women’s esports overall.

This year’s MLBB Women's Invitational featured 12 teams that made it to the finals through regional leagues and qualifiers such as WSL and SILAB. Most of the teams hailed from Southeast Asia, where Mobile Legends has a particularly strong following.

In the final, the Philippine team Omega Empress faced Team Vitality from Indonesia, which was composed of former Bigetron Era players. Team Vitality was favored to win, given their past successes (Bigetron Era had claimed victory in the last two MWI tournaments). However, Omega Empress proved to be the stronger team, defeating their opponents 3-0 and taking home a record-breaking $180,000 prize, the largest ever awarded in a women’s MLBB tournament.

The EWC x MLBB Women’s Invitational 2024 set new standards for audience engagement, establishing itself as the top women’s tournament of the year in several key areas. The tournament’s broadcasts accumulated over 2.5 million Hours Watched, the highest among all MWI tournaments. It also became the most-watched women’s event of 2024 and the second most-watched in the history of women’s Mobile Legends tournaments.

At its peak, EWC x MLBB Women’s Invitational 2024 reached 265,100 concurrent viewers, the highest for the year and the fourth highest ever for a women’s esports tournament. Only the 32nd SEA Games - Women's Tournament, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Women’s Invitational 2022, and VCT 2023: Game Changers Championship had higher viewership numbers.

The tournament also excelled in average viewership, with 74,300 viewers per broadcast — twice more than MLBB Women’s Invitational 2023.

MWI tournaments comparison

The EWC x MLBB Women’s Invitational 2024 has set new benchmarks for the series, achieving the highest total watch time and average viewership; it also ranks second in terms of peak viewership. It’s important to note that while the 32nd SEA Games - Women's Tournament had higher peak viewership, it was a national team competition within the larger Asian Games, an extensive international event covering a vast region.

Several factors contributed to the exceptional viewership of EWC x MLBB Women’s Invitational 2024. One major factor was the extensive coverage by community casters. Whereas last year’s tournament was broadcast on 44 channels, the Riyadh event was covered by nearly 200 channels. TikTok played a significant role, accounting for almost 39% of the watch time. The mpl.id.official channel led in peak viewership among all broadcasters. Additionally, Bigo LIVE contributed approximately 8% of the total HW.

This year’s Invitational also featured a wider range of broadcast languages than previous years. While Indonesian, English, Malaysian, and Tagalog remained prominent, Arabic and Russian were newly introduced, together representing over 10% of the total HW. Overall, the MWI series has become more international, reaching beyond its traditional region and receiving a warm reception in Saudi Arabia.

Most watched and most popular female tournaments all time

The Esports World Cup 2024 has made a significant impact on women’s esports in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Historically dominated by Asian teams, the scene welcomed top European clubs such as Team Vitality, and Gaimin Gladiators for the first time. The tournament set a new record for prize money in the women’s MLBB scene and generated greater interest from Western audiences.

Ray Ng, Head of Esports Ecosystem at MOONTON Games:

“The competitive women’s esports scene has taken a huge step forward with the MWI 2024. We believe that esports is for everyone, so we’re delighted to have given the world’s best female athletes the stage and #TimeToShine. We’d also like to thank all of our fans who cheered the roof off the Amazon Arena.”

The EWC x MLBB Women’s Invitational 2024 drew more viewers than some of the men’s tournaments at the Esports World Cup 2024. For results on other games, visit the series' report page.