Bilibili Gaming secures Worlds Spot as LPL 2024 season surpasses 2023 viewership

The last LPL event on the 2024 calendar has concluded, ending the season on a good note and continuing the momentum the league built recently. Of particular note was the performance of the regional finals, which became the second most popular event in a series that pits the best teams in China against each other.

Note: Stats from Chinese live-streaming platforms have not been included as their publicly available viewership data is different from the usual concurrent viewers figures that are usually used and remain unreliable, rendering them incompatible with most other data services.

LPL Summer 2024 Viewership

The latest summer split was held across multiple venues in China from June 1 to August 30. With the league experimenting with a different format this time around, audiences were clued in to see how things would pan out, ensuring it finished as one of the more successful events in the series and backed up the gains made by the spring split.

The LPL Summer 2024 witnessed all 17 teams from the Spring split battle it out for a prize pool of $580,000. Unlike previous iterations, it featured a Group Stage, Rumble Stage, and the use of the 'Fearless Draft' feature in the Group Stage, where teams were split into four pots based on results from the previous season.

Bilibili Gaming won its second straight LPL trophy (Image via LPL on X)

After almost three months of action, Bilibili Gaming beat Weibo Gaming 3:0 in the Grand Final to clinch its second straight split. The winner, who has recently been on a roll, earned a spot in the Swiss Stage of the 2024 World Championship aside from pocketing $275,000.

Bilibili Gaming also became the fourth team to win both LPL splits in a year with this victory in Nanjing. Moreover, knight created history as the first player to win four straight titles in this series, with his two titles last year coming with JD Gaming, who was on a record-equalling run of claiming three straight splits.

This League of Legends Pro League competition peaked at 208K concurrent viewers during the summit clash, doing 64% better than any other game. These two sides have been some of the most visible and consistent this year from China, and with the losing finalist contesting its first final in the series, audiences were extra hyped to see who would come out on top.

LPL Summer 2024 – basic viewership stats and top matches

The LPL Summer 2024 also reached 11.3M Hours Watched and 33.2K Average Viewers over 341 hours of airtime. Interestingly, a Rumble Stage match made the five most popular matches list, with the meeting between JD Gaming and Bilibili Gaming attracting just over 100K PV as it signaled a battle between the league's old guard and new hopefuls who also happen to be two of the most followed sides in the league.

Interestingly, while the two above sides had two appearances on the most popular games table, it was another side that snuck ahead with three such appearances. That it played the most number of games in this League of Legends event, including extra matches via the lower bracket, helped it face almost every team. This helped add more jeopardy whenever it played and piqued viewers' interest enough for them to come back more than once to catch the action.

Unlock the infographics along with other exclusive content and features by upgrading to our PRO Subscription.

LPL Summer 2024 – most popular teams

The LPL Summer 2024 also continued to be live broadcast on more channels than usual, similar to the Spring season. This also meant that more content creators from outside China could stream the games to a global audience, including the likes of Caedrel, Baiano, and Iwdominate.

English also continued to grow its audience at this competition, seeing an overall watch time rise of around 2.5%, which was more or less how much Portuguese lost compared to the LPL Spring 2024. This spells good news for a league still seen as pretty closed off to the rest of the League of Legends world, although it has worked to change that this year.

Most watched tournaments in LPL history

The LPL Summer 2024 has ended as the seventh most-watched and ninth most popular tournament in LPL history. With reach to a more global audience now possible, this means that both seasons this year have entered these two all-time top ten leaderboards, with the spring split sitting in the fourth position on both counts.

When comparing all the ongoing splits in LoL as well, the LPL looks on course to overtake its LCS counterpart yet again. However, it still lags behind its Vietnamese, merged EMEA, Brazilian, and Korean brethren, but with things looking up, these leagues will do well to keep an out for China in the future.

LPL Regional Finals 2024 Recap

LPL Regional Finals 2024 – most popular matches and basic viewership stats

This competition, which decided the remaining teams to represent the country at the World Championship, performed well compared to previous editions. After three days of action, it was LNG Esports and Weibo Gaming who booked their slots in the Swiss Stage of the season finale.

Unfortunately, old warhorse JD Gaming failed to qualify for the grand event despite the list of popular matches showing that audiences were firmly behind the side. Both its games made the top two spots, with the Lower Bracket Final against eventual runner-up Weibo Gaming attracting an impressive 238.7K PV, which was 58.3% higher than the next-best entry.

Most popular LPL Regional Finals iterations

Having represented China at all but the one showpiece event since 2020, JD Gaming has emerged as one of the most followed sides in its country. Naturally, fans were expectant that it would make a third straight appearance at the Worlds, but that was not meant to be.

However, the journey the team had in this short yet crucial tournament was enough to attract a record crowd. The game against Weibo Gaming ended up becoming the second most popular in LPL Regional Finals history, making the 2024 iteration the second-most popular ever in this series.

Detailed statistics on all major esports tournaments and series, including prominent ones like the LPL, are available with the Esports Charts PRO subscription, the benefits of which can be checked here.

The LPL Regional Finals 2024 could also have challenged for the most-watched competition of all time tag, but a one-sided Upper Bracket Final between Weibo Gaming and LNG Esports put paid to those hopes. Perhaps that dominance by the latter was a major reason this match ended as the least popular at this event.

LPL 2024 vs. LPL 2023 Viewership

Comparing the overall viewership statistics of the last two LPL seasons

The last two years on the League of Legends Pro League calendar have brought stable viewership numbers across the board. Crucially, these competitions have helped narrow the gap to its rivals in America, the LCS, which has been going through a tumultuous period recently.

For so long one of the flagbearers of LoL competition globally, the League Championship Series has witnessed a butting of heads between the organizer and teams, which has also affected its viewership output. LPL has been one of the leagues to gain from this, surpassing the peak concurrent viewership mark of its American for the last split of 2023 and the first one of 2024.

Judging by the action at the LCS Summer 2024 so far, it looks like it will fall behind its Chinese counterpart for a third consecutive time. The competition ends on September 7 and with two matches to go, it will take something special to surpass the LPL's summer peak viewership.

Coming back to the LPL, the last two seasons have produced remarkably similar numbers. Importantly, 2024 has been the more successful one, showing that the league's reach continues to broaden after years of remaining insulated from the world.

Most popular matches from the 2024 LPL season

2024 cumulatively hit 26.4M HW, 292K PV, and 368K AV over an airtime of 719.5 hours, surpassing the corresponding numbers from last year by 6%, 1.25%, and 12.67%, respectively, despite airing for around 45 hours less. It also means that fans worldwide are enjoying what they see, contributing to the gradually improving audience figures.

Another major reason for this improved performance is the availability of live matches on a lot more live-streaming platforms. The addition of CHZZK and Trovo to the mix has meant more channels have been covering the action this year, and although their cumulative contributions to each tournament have been passable, their presence has no doubt increased the league's exposure to outside spectators.

Overall, it has been another successful split for the LPL, whose new format ensured there's a higher chance of different teams making it to the latter stages while providing fans with more games to keep them involved. With the country looking to regain its lost glory in the international arena as well, it will be interesting to see how the teams perform at the 2024 Worlds.