Most watched esports mobile games in 2022

In 2022, the viewership statistics of some mobile games showed significant growth due to tournaments held as part of large sports events. Other disciplines have lost a huge part of their audience due to being blocked in India. At the same time, the performance of yet other titles was down because the final World Cup was postponed to January 2023.

In the new article, Esports Charts will tell you about the most watched esports mobile games in 2022 & their dynamics over a year.

Disclaimer: the ranking is based on the total Hours Watched of esports tournaments, with data from Chinese streaming services being excluded from the statistics due to differences in viewership activity measurement.

#5 — Battlegrounds Mobile India

Opening the top 5 mobile disciplines for the second year in a row is Battlegrounds Mobile India, which is a version of PUBG Mobile adapted for Indian gamers. Events for this battle royale have generated 29M Hours Watched. This is 50% higher than the game’s last year's figure, which, however, only includes statistics for the last 7 months. Recall that Battlegrounds Mobile India was released in July 2021.

The most popular tournament of the year in Battlegrounds Mobile India was iQOO Battlegrounds Mobile India Series 2021. The championship started in December 2021 and ended in January 2022, having gathered more than 460K Peak Viewers during round 21. Note that the game’s Peak Viewers mark last year was almost 17% higher. It was reached during the Launch Party BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA show championship, which was attended not only by pro players but also by popular streamers.

#4 — Free Fire

Free Fire holds the fourth spot, down one position in the ranking. The discipline's Hours Watched decreased by 68.9% over the year, which is directly related to the decrease in the number of tournaments by almost 67.6%. The most popular tournament of the year was the World Series 2022 Sentosa, which generated 4.89M Hours Watched and attracted more than 1.47M Peak Viewers.

It is worth noting that in 2022, another Free Fire World Championship, World Series 2022 Bangkok, was held, which showed a much more modest performance: about 2M Hours Watched and 354.8K Peak Viewers. However, both of these tournaments, even with their indicators combined, could not come close to the record figures of the Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore, which generated 18.44M Hours Watched and attracted 5.4M Peak Viewers (the best result in esports).

The main reason for the drop in statistics was that in February 2022, Free Fire was blocked in India, where most of the game's fans were located. Now the shooter is most popular in Brazil, but Hindi is still in the top 3 broadcast languages of tournaments.

#3 — Arena of Valor

Closing the top 3 mobile disciplines of the year after climbing one position in the ranking is Arena of Valor. Over more than 2.88K hours of airtime, the game has generated almost 103.9M Hours Watched, which is 25% more than in 2021. The growth of the indicator is mostly associated with an increased number of tournaments. The most popular of them was Arena of Glory Winter 2022, the grand final of which was watched by almost 644.4K Peak Viewers.

AoV is an international adaptation of the Chinese game Honor of Kings, which is scheduled for a global release before the end of 2022. In honor of this event, the HoK International Championship 2022 is being held in the discipline with a record prize fund in mobile esports: $10M. It should be noted that the event is also the first tournament in history where teams from two versions of the game (AoV and HoK) compete at once.

#2 — PUBG Mobile

The second spot in the top most-watched esports mobile games of the year was taken by PUBG Mobile. In 2022, the discipline’s viewership statistics dropped quite a lot, even though two new regions entered the PUBG Mobile Pro League: Africa and Pakistan. At the same time, the battle royale won the title of “best esports mobile game of the year” at the Esports Awards 2022.

The most popular PUBG Mobile tournament of the year was held as part of the 31st Southeast Asian Games sports event and attracted more than 903K Peak Viewers. Note that PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2022, the final tournament of the year in the discipline, started in November. Its final stage will take place in January and also has the potential to attract a huge audience.

#1 — Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang became the most popular mobile discipline for the second year in a row. The game’s airtime in 2022 increased by almost 7%, but its Hours Watched decreased by 14.4%. This is because the main tournament of the season, the M4 World Championship, will be held in January 2023.

Recall that the M3 World Championship was the most popular ML:BB tournament in 2021, with almost 3.2M Peak Viewers. MPL ID Season 9 became the leader of the discipline by Peak Viewers in 2022, with its finals being watched by more than 2.84M Peak Viewers. At the same time, the most popular among international tournaments was MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2022, the grand final of which attracted 2.8M Peak Viewers.