MPL Spring seasons recap — Malaysia, MENA, and Philippines show improvements
The Spring Splits of this year’s Mobile Legends: Bang Bang leagues have all ended, and the entrants for the MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2023 have been decided. The Indonesian competition outperformed the rest as usual, but there were some dips and rises in each tournament that are worth a closer look.
At the MSC 2023, 12 organizations — two Indonesian and Filipino sides, alongside one team each from Malaysia, Singapore, MENA, Cambodia, Myanmar, Mekong, NACT, and Turkey — will duke it out from June 10 to June 18. The Group Stage runs from June 10 to June 13, while the Playoffs will occur between June 15 and 18.
Of the seven MPL Spring events, four hit the one million Hours Watched mark, with only two making it into double digits — Indonesia and the Philippines — which is not a surprise. However, compared to their previous seasons, both Mobile Legends: Bang Bang competitions had contrasting performances.
When it comes to the MPL Indonesia Season 11, it was only the fourth most popular event in the series behind the previous three seasons. This was mainly because RRQ, the most followed side in the game, failed to put in a good performance and could not qualify for the MSC 2023. This absence could also affect the viewership numbers for this regional championship for Southeast Asia plus North America, Turkey, and MENA.
The MPL Philippines Season 11 became the second most popular competition in the history of this regional league, but it could not crack the top five in terms of Average Viewers. What helped was that a large number of community casters from Indonesia showed interest in this competition. Compared to the last season, its share went up from less than a percent to 9 percent as Indonesian fans stopped by to see their countrymen's success in another region's league.
Coming to the MPL Malaysia Season 11, it achieved a record 6.3 million Hours Watched despite airtime that was 61 hours lesser than the previous season. It also became the most popular tournament ever from this regional league, again, thanks to the presence of Indonesian representatives, proving that Malaysia remains one of the fastest-growing Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Bang markets.
One of the poorer performers compared to its last season was the MPL Singapore Season 5, which did paltry numbers and fell quite hard in terms of viewership. After hitting a record 32K peak concurrent viewers last year, the event seemed to miss TikTok this time, with the platform not streaming live matches in 2023. The absence of Slate Esports — Season 4’s most popular side — also seemed to put off some viewers, while another reason for this fall was that the much-anticipated Grand Final showdown between eternal rivals RSG Slate SG and Bleed Esports did not materialize, with the latter falling to eventual runner-ups Team Flash in the Lower Bracket Final.
Another lesser MPL league to fall in viewership numbers was the MPL Brazil Season 4, which, despite a lot more channels and platforms broadcasting the action live, could not match last year’s numbers. One reason was the failure of DreamMax, 2023’s most watched side, to reach the Grand Final and set up back-to-back summit clashes with RRQ Akira. Perhaps there is also something to be said about the slight tweak in the Regular Season format from Double round-robin to Single round-robin that might have put viewers off as they saw less of their favorite sides go head to head with their rivals.
Finally, talking about the MPL MENA Spring 2023, it had a mixed time compared to the previous split, the MPL MENA Fall 2022. It did better HW and AV numbers, but slightly fell when it comes to PV. That can be attributed to the performance of Axe, the most popular side over the past few splits, as it failed to repeat its Grand Final run from last year after falling at the Lower Bracket Semifinal stage this time around. There was also a slight tweak in the Playoffs stage, with this year’s event having a Final Lower Bracket (Bo5) and a Grand Final (Bo7) instead of a Bo5 Lower Bracket and Grand Final from the fall season, which seemed to resonate with audiences better.
It has been quite a ride for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang so far this season, with the promise of more tournaments to expand its esports scene in 2023. The various leagues have thrown up some interesting numbers so far, and the MSC 2023 will be an important step in seeing how well the discipline does in 2023 and further.
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