MDL Indonesia Season 9 set a series record for peak viewership thanks to TikTok

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MDL Indonesia Season 9, the largest tournament for academy teams of MPL, concluded with record-breaking peak viewership. The event delighted fans with the sensational victory of Geek Fam ID Jr, who had never finished higher than eighth place in the Development League before.

The MDL (Mobile Legends Development League) series was launched in Indonesia in 2020 to provide a platform for developing the tier-2 scene of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in the strongest regions of the game. In 2023, the Philippines introduced its own MDL series, and in 2024, a similar league (but under different name: MLBB Academy League) was launched in Malaysia. Currently, MDL leagues feature academy teams from top clubs as well as independent teams that have qualified.

In the ninth season, MDL Indonesia organizers slightly modified the format by adding a Swiss Round between the Group Stage and the Knockout Stage. Most favorites were unaffected by this change; however, EVOS Icon surprisingly stumbled and failed to reach the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. In contrast, despite a less confident performance in the group stage and Swiss Round, Geek Fam ID Jr found their stride and delivered an excellent performance in the knockout stage. They first defeated Raja Phoenix and Bigetron Beta and then overcame RRQ Sena in the grand finals. This season marked a significant achievement for Geek Fam ID Jr and highlighted the evolving competitive landscape of MDL Indonesia.

The matches of MDL Indonesia Season 9 generated 5.3 million Hours Watched, making it the third-highest in the series' history. The tournament peaked at 375.9K viewers, making MDL ID S9 the most popular season to date. The previous peak was 267.8K viewers during MDL Indonesia Season 6. In comparison, MDL Indonesia Season 9 has already surpassed the viewership numbers of tournaments such as IEM Chengdu 2024 (CS), DreamLeague Season 22 (Dota 2), and VCS Spring 2024 (League of Legends).

The most popular matches featured games involving only RRQ Sena and ONIC Prodigy, the two most high-profile teams in the league, whose main rosters have performed well in the MPL. Interestingly, the situation was different for Geek Fam ID Jr: the grand final was the only match involving them that made it into the top 15 most-watched matches of the tournament. This highlights that Geek Fam ID Jr's journey to the finals and their victory was a major surprise for the viewers.

Most popular MDL Indonesia seasons

MDL Indonesia Season 9 became the most popular tournament in the series in terms of peak viewership and ranked third in total hours watched. Compared to the previous season, Season 9 saw a significant increase in audience reach on TikTok. The platform's share of total viewing hours rose from 21% to 37%, reducing YouTube's share accordingly. Peak and average viewership on TikTok streams grew two to three times, despite the number of broadcast channels being slightly fewer than in Season 8.

The primary factor behind TikTok's growth was the mpl.id.official channel, which significantly improved its metrics compared to the previous season. For the first time, this channel topped the list of channels by hours watched and peak viewership. Previously, the leaders were the official Mobile Legends channels on YouTube.