M6 World Championship's viewership growth remains strong in Swiss Stage, led by Southeast Asian audiences
The Swiss Stage of the M6 World Championship ended on November 5, with the field now reduced to the final eight teams as they gun for the ultimate glory. Continuing to build on the viewership success of the Wildcard Stage, the tournament remains on course to become one of the most popular esports events ever.
Having returned to Malaysia, where the first-ever Mobile Legends: Bang Bang World Championship was conducted, the competition's final phase will be played across two venues. The first phase of the Knockout Stage will continue at the IOI Grand Exhibition & Convention Center (where the initial stages also occurred ), with the Axiata Arena set to host the Semifinals and Grand Final.
Readers must note that the M6 World Championship witnessed a format change this year, with the Swiss Stage being added for the first time in the Group Stage, which previously followed the GSL style in 2023. Organizer MOONTON Games aimed to ensure that more matches were played by each team while also giving prominent names a higher chance of advancing to the playoffs.
This change has seemingly worked wonders, as the M6 Swiss Stage has attracted higher viewership numbers across the board than the Group Stage of the M5 World Championship. With the games being shorter (best-of-ones and best=of-threes) compared to the best-of-five matches witnessed last year, the airtime in 2024 came down by almost seven hours.
Although the games were quicker, audiences continued to remain attentive, led by Indonesian and Malaysian viewers. That was thanks to the presence of RRQ Hoshi, Selangor Red Giants, Team Vamos, and Team Liquid ID, all of whom have qualified for the Knockout Stage.
Three games from the Swiss Stage crossed the 2M Peak Viewers (PV) mark, with the match recording the highest peak being the battle between Team Liquid ID and Aurora Gaming. It was a battle between sides from Indonesia and the Philippines, two of the game's most successful regions, with such contests usually generating record viewership at any level of tournament in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
Of course, we cannot forget RRQ Hoshi, perhaps the game's most popular side that has witnessed a recent resurgence and is participating in its first M-series event since the fourth edition. The professional esports organization based in Indonesia has by far been the most popular team among audiences and appears in three of the five most popular matches.
RRQ Hoshi's great run, alongside the steady momentum presence of Team Liquid ID, has also meant that Indonesian audiences have seen a massive spike in its watch time and peak concurrent viewership from 2023's Group Stage. While the language's 16.6M Hours Watched (HW) is 78% higher, the 1.7M PV it has generated is 86.7% more than last year.
The progress of the Malaysian duo of Selangor Red Giants (the first side from this country to win an international MLBB title) and Team Vamos also saw Bahasa Malaysia jump in its audience reach. In the Swiss Stage, the national language's HW and PV numbers were 80% and 78% higher, respectively, than what was witnessed in 2023, with the two sides on course to help the Southeast Asian nation clinch its maiden MLBB world title.
In all this, we must not forget the Filipino audiences, who have also arrived in droves to cheer on their sides, as seen in the fact that Tagalog's Swiss Stage PV numbers in 2024 have gone up by 76.2%. They will also be represented by FNATIC Onic PH in the playoffs, which could prove crucial in helping the event reach milestone viewership numbers.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang's ultimate tournament of the year continues to meet expectations and could feasibly overtake the M5 World Championship, which is the fifth-most-popular esports event ever, in terms of peak concurrent viewers. With fan-favorite teams set to do battle in the Knockout Stage, a few good days and favorable match-ups could see the 2024 iteration create history.
For readers keeping tabs, the M6 World Championship's Knockout Stage begins on December 7 and runs till December 15. Fans can track who's playing who and when on Esports Charts' schedule tab for the competition.
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