MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2023 Group Stage sees rise in all metrics despite RRQ’s absence

Loading

The MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2023, with the first-time addition of non-SEA teams from North America, Turkey, and MENA, saw its Group Stage end today. Thanks to the adoption of a new format, this mid-season event for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang put in much higher numbers than its 2022 predecessor.

The extended Group Stage did well despite the absence of the in-demand RRQ and the middling performance of EVOS Legends. The popular Indonesian side finished with a 1-1 record in Group B, meaning that it made the Playoffs — barely — at the expense of Burmese side Fenix Esports.

Among the three teams from outside SEA, only one made it to the Knockout Stage, showing that these sides will have a challenge ending the MLBB esports stronghold in Asia. Only Turkey’s Fire Flux Impunity advanced, with Team Occupy from Egypt and North American side Outplay failing to get past the Group Stage.

Most other results followed an expected pattern, with big-name sides like ECHO, RSG Slate SG, ONIC Esports, and Blacklist International all making the Knockout Stage. This phase will run from June 15 to June 18 and be held in the single elimination bracket format. All matches, apart from the Bo7 Grand Final, are Bo5, with Helcurt getting global banned during this MLBB event. 

MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2023 Group Stage viewership results

  Comparing the basic stats and languages of the last two MLBB Southeast Asia Cups   

The Group Stage of this tournament hit 1.1M Peak Viewers during the Group Stage Day 1 clash between EVOS Legends and Fenix Esports. With the former starting its journey in this event during the game, fans were more than happy to watch how things unfolded, with their favorite team not disappointing thanks to a 2-1 win.

The MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2023 also did 12.4M Hours Watched and 407K Average Viewers over an airtime of 31 hours. Surprisingly, ONIC Esports was more popular than EVOS Legends across the first phase, thanks to a flawless 2-0 record in Group C, and it remains to be seen if it can keep things this way against its more illustrious fellow Indonesian side when they face off in the knockouts.

When looking at the Group Stage of the last two MSCs, this year’s iteration almost doubled the watch hours count (shot up by 93.8%), thanks to the number of days in the schedule doubling to four. This also meant the airtime went up by 30%, ensuring the number of hours watched would be higher this time around.

The other two metrics also saw a rise, with the peak concurrent number slightly growing by 1.4%, with RRQ's non-participation playing a part in this increase not being higher. The number of average online viewers also climbed by 35.2%, showing just how welcome the tweaked format was within the MLB community.

Moreover, with the Group Stage games adopting the Bo3 format instead of the Bo2, there was an increase in the number of rounds played, contributing to the higher watch hours count. Hence, the large increases in the stats of average concurrent viewers and airtime combined with the change in the matches’ format helped almost double the HW numbers.

There was also an increase in viewers among the two main languages of Tagalog and English. However, Indonesian — inarguably the biggest market for the game worldwide today — slightly went down (by 0.2%), as fans sorely missed RRQ — perhaps the most popular MLBB team today — who failed to qualify for this event.

Compared to the MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2022, English saw an enormous 197.4% gain in its peak viewership, while Tagalog went up by 40.1%. With North American, Turkish, and MENA representatives present this time, the former language was able to attract an enormous audience. Filipino fans were also in full voice as they got to see highly sought-after sides like ECHO and Blacklist International in action, helping the latter language also rise up the ranks.

However, one of the top three languages from 2022, Khmer, saw a decline of 48.1%, with interest among Cambodian watchers waning thanks to the reduction of slots for the region from two to one side in 2023. The country's lone representative, BURN x FLASH, has made the Knockout Stage and will face RSG Slate SG in the first Bo5 Quarterfinals, so there is a chance for the language to do well depending on the side’s results.

The Knockout Stage of the MSC 2023 resumes tomorrow, with the other Quarterfinals pitting Blacklist International against Fire Flux Impunity. The other two Quarterfinals will see ECHO take on TODAK and the Indonesian derby between ONIC Esports and EVOS Legends.