MENA growth headlines MPL leagues viewership dynamics outside of Southeast Asia
The M7 World Championship is nearing, and all the MPL circuits and regional qualifiers for it have concluded. Among the Mobile Legends Professional Leagues (MPL) outside the Southeast Asian region, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) maintained its solid viewership numbers, showing the potential to reach the viewership numbers of the second tier of SEA leagues in the near future.
Esports Charts recaps the MPL circuits that do not come within the purview of the SEA region below. These leagues have maintained a steady audience reach over the years, which continued during the latest splits that also served as qualifiers for the upcoming MLBB World Championship.
More crucially, though they are still new to the MLBB esports scene compared to their Southeast Asian counterparts, they've shown a lot of promise. The Latin American (LATAM) circuit even hit a new series watch time record, and though it's still a fledgling competition, most signs point to a bright future.
First up is the MPL MENA Season 8, which was held over around one and a half months, with the Grand Final emanating from the Mall of Egypt in Cairo. The event finished among the league's most successful competitions and the number one entry by average concurrent viewership
Crucial to this positive development was the dominant run of eventual winner Team Falcons. The Saudi Arabian esports organization finished as the only unbeaten team in the tournament, beating Axe 4:1 in the finals to gain direct entry into the M7 World Championship's Swiss Stage. The beaten finalist, meanwhile, booked a berth in the Wildcard Stage.
The MPL MENA Season 8 reached 42,475 Peak Viewers (PV), just short of the series record held by the MPL MENA Season 5. The fifth split also holds the watch time record, with the eighth season's 455,460 Hours Watched (HW) putting it in the second spot on this leaderboard.
The MENA circuit has been one of the fastest-rising MPL leagues recently, and Season 8 was further proof of this improvement. With prominent names like Team Falcons, Twisted Minds and Geekay Esports in the mix, it is the most likely name to reach the viewership numbers of most established events like Cambodia and Myanmar in the near future.
Next comes the MLBB Continental Championships Season 6, which is another recent addition to the MPL family. Consisting of teams from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Georgia, and Ukraine, this event had two slots of offer for the world championship.
Team Spirit eased past another established esports name, Virtus.pro, 4:0 in the Grand Final to seal its spot in the M7's Group Stage. The runner-up, meanwhile, will begin its journey in the Wildcard Stage against seven other qualifiers, with the two best participants advancing to the Swiss Stage.
The final was also this event's most popular match with 28,521 PV, just about beating what the Lower Bracket Final between Team Spirit and Verso Time put up. With just over 1 million HW, it also ended among the three most-watched tournaments in the MLBB Continental Championship series.
Team Spirit's dominance of this series, consecutively winning the last four splits, has ensured it has consistently hit over 30,000 PV. The team also enjoys strong support from Russian viewers, and if it does well at the M7 World Championship, chances are that this language will play a part in any improved audience numbers.
The last of the non-SEA MPL leagues is the Latin American one, which reached 18,068 Peak Viewers during the Grand Final between Black Sentence Esports and INFLUENCE RAGE. With only one slot available to this region at the world championship, the tournament winner earned direct entry into the Swiss Stage.
Only one split, Season 2, has done better than the recent fourth season in terms of peak concurrent viewers, and it remains the only one to pass 20,000 PV. Moreover, the MPL LATAM Season 4 was by far the most-watched event in the series, with its 445,901 Hours Watched doing 9.13% better than the third season.
With an increased prize pool compared to the previous two splits, the positive performances of fan favorite sides helped the MPL LATAM Season 4 find viewership success. Sides like INFLUENCE RAGE and the Brazilian duo of Alpha7 Esports and DreamMax e-Sports finishing in the top four played a big part in this development.
The best any LATAM representative has done at the world championship is to reach the Lower Bracket Round 3 at the M3 and M4 editions. Beating this mark won't be easy for Black Sentence Esports, but the Chilean side will take heart from its performances during Season 4, where it lost just one game, and look to leave a lasting mark on Latin American MLBB esports with a deep run at the upcoming seventh iteration.
We also saw various qualifier events conducted in Japan, Turkey, Vietnam, Laos, China and Mongolia. The winners of the Turkish and Chinese leagues advanced to the Swiss Stage of the M7 World Championship, with the rest of the qualified teams sealing berths in the Wildcard Stage.
Teams participating in the M7 World Championship Swiss Stage
Teams participating in the M7 World Championship Wildcard Stage
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The most coveted event on the competitive MLBB calendar will take place from January 3 to 25, 2026, at multiple venues in Jakarta, Indonesia. A total prize pool of $1 million will be on the line, and Esports Charts will come up with a few preview articles in the coming days, which readers can access on our news section.
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