Social media impact of playing on stage at the MSI to millions of League of Legends fans
League of Legends is one of the world’s forefront esports games and continues to raise expectations. Mid-Season Invitational 2024 was the most popular edition of the tournament ever, reaching 2.83M Peak Viewers, and it is not only a prime destination for esports teams to prove themselves on an international stage, but also an opportunity for esports organizations to expose their brand to millions of esports fans.
Prior to the beginning of the Mid-Season Invitational this year, Esports Charts collected data on the attending esports organizations’ main social media accounts (), and how many Followers these social media accounts claimed. Now, with the finale of the MSI behind us, we can compare the previous data to their post-MSI standings; which esports organizations earned the most new fans after performing on stage for millions of League of Legends players?
Some teams achieved competitive success at the MSI, but social media stagnation followed the event, and other teams enjoyed a sizable growth in popularity thanks to the exposure of the MSI, without performing strongly at the event itself. Competitive success at the event itself was not necessary for social media growth, but in many cases, it had a compounding effect on their growth for the period.
Mid-Seasonal Invitational 2024 Teams’ Social Media Growth
Far in the lead, G2 Esports enjoyed the most successful brand exposure through the MSI. The esports organization gained more than 41.8K new Instagram followers during the dataset period of April 29 until May 20. G2 Esports boasted 1.3M Instagram Followers prior to the event, one of the largest followings in this ranking, but still managed a 3.21% increase in Followers.
This relative increase compared to pre-MSI data is one of the most significant growths of the event. G2 Esports was the only esports organization with over 1M followers to enjoy an increase of more than 1%. The organization’s success was a result of a strong 4th place amid international competitors like T1 and Gen.G Esports, and by being the leading EMEA team on the international stage. The organization has a historic legacy in League of Legends, and they continue to broach new horizons and appeal to a new set of fans at these international events.
Slightly behind the EMEA competitor, Bilibili Gaming of China gained 27K new Weibo followers throughout the event period. The organization is largely followed by Chinese fans, having recorded 3.23M followers on the social media platform prior to the MSI. Bilibili Gaming finished 2nd at the event, and had their brand exposed to millions of esports fans through both the grand final, but also the lower bracket final match against T1.
The power of the Chinese audience in League of Legends is tough to calculate, as Chinese live-streaming platforms do not allow public access to viewership statistics which would allow direct comparisons to Western audiences. However, the growth of Bilibili Gaming’s social media accounts during and after the MSI proves that the region has a sizable and passionate esports scene. Critically, the team has emerged as China’s strongest competitor, integral for an esports organization looking to find domestic fans.
Perhaps surprisingly, Estral Esports who finished in joint-last place at the tournament gained 14.4K new followers on Instagram. Despite their competitive struggles at the event, the team has emerged as Latin America’s leading team, and is quickly finding a loyal fanbase for itself. Although not the most competitive regional circuit in League of Legends, the Liga Latinoamérica set a series peak viewership record with the LLA Closing 2023, and it continues to grow and find new fans.
The Latin American team also recorded the highest relative increase in followers; Estral Esports grew their Instagram following by 21.18% during our selected period. Their Twitter account also grew by 5.7K fans as well, marking another highly significant 12.35% growth. The Spanish-speaking side of the Americas may be a region for League of Legends esports that is yet to reach its full potential, as it continues to support and cheer on their top teams.
Se terminó el #MSI2024 , este año fue la primera de Estral y la primera de Chovy. ?
— Estral Esports (@EstralEsports) May 19, 2024
¿Un server de minecraft en lo que iniciamos o qué?#LLA #SomosEstral pic.twitter.com/A0ld4f2IJG
Despite the tough event, Estral Esports remained positive and kept smiling
Following closely behind the Latin American team, Brazilian organization LOUD faced less support from fans during the event. Their team finished in last place alongside Estral Esports, but the response from fans was much different. Despite boasting some of the most successful social media accounts of any organization considered here, their Twitter following grew by only 0.42%, and on Instagram they actually lost 0.09% of their fans. Although a small percentage, this represents over 10.5K followers of their organization. While Estral Esports is up-and-coming, LOUD is an established organization, and fans were less forgiving of their placement at the MSI.
Similar to LOUD, Fnatic is another esports organization which faced low Twitter growth and a loss of fans on Instagram. The EMEA organization finished 7th/8th at the event, but European fans were perhaps expecting more from their region’s second-best team, especially after G2 Esports managed to finish within the top 4. Their Twitter account gained 2.8K Followers, which is relatively a very small growth of 0.16%, and on Instragram they suffered a 0.11% loss in followers.
Fnatic, LOUD, and Team Liquid were the only organizations to report social media losses during the dataset, with all three of these negative accounts hosted on Instagram. This does not put forward that Instagram is not an ideal social media for esports organizations; G2 Esports enjoyed the largest raw growth of followers on this platform, and Estral Esports recorded the highest percentage growth on Instagram too.
— LEC (@LEC) May 11, 2024
While Fnatic exited the MSI, many fans took to social media to voice frustration with the roster
Fnatic, LOUD, and Team Liquid all have one thing in common as esports teams within League of Legends: multiple Korean import players on their rosters. Although these players may improve the team competitively, perhaps the organizations are losing domestic fans as they prefer to import international players rather than support their domestic scene.
Speaking of South Koreans, Gen.G Esports took home not only the trophy for the MSI 2024, but also new fans to their social media platforms. Gen.G earned 6.2K fans on Instagram, and 2.3K new followers on Twitter; these growths correspond to 4.21% and 1.4% increases, respectively. Gen.G is a long-established organization within League of Legends, and a growth of 4.21% on any social media is impressive for any team who has already achieved global brand exposure in recent years. Their home country rivals T1 had to settle for 3rd place at the event, and could not match Gen.G’s growth during the time of the MSI.
Excluding the top contenders as outlined in the graphic, GAM Esports also enjoyed a growth of 5.22% on Instagram and 6.49% on Twitter. The organization fields Vietnam’s leading League of Legends roster, and the region is emerging as one of the world’s fastest-growing audiences for the MOBA esports title. Talon Esports also found some success with an increase of 4.59% recorded for Twitter, as the team leads the way for Pacific esports within the discipline.
Ultimately, the champions of the MSI were not the most successful team in terms of brand exposure. European organization G2 Esports successfully gained the most new fans, solidifying themselves as EMEA’s most competitive team. Estral Esports enjoyed the largest relative growth of their brand on social media, as the Latin American scene for MOBA esports is coming to life, and they were supported by their fans through their last-place finish at the event.
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