Mid-Season Invitational 2024 highlights a growing dependence on watch parties for viewership

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Excitement mounts as the first pair of upper bracket semifinals has been determined at the Mid-Season Invitational 2024 (League of Legends). Gen.G secured a decisive victory over Fnatic with a score of 3:0, propelling themselves to the next stage in the winners' bracket. Notably, this match attracted significantly more attention from viewers compared to the previous day's clash between Top Esports and Team Liquid. Additionally, the MSI itself showcases a growing reliance on community casting, as outlined in the Esports Charts report.

The showdown between Gen.G and Fnatic peaked at over 1.1 million viewers, marking a 64% increase compared to the series between Team Liquid and Top Esports. Coverage of the Gen.G vs. Fnatic match spanned nearly unique channels, including streams from popular content creators like ibai, Baiano, Tolkin, Caedrel, among others.

For the second consecutive year, community casting has wielded substantial influence over the viewership statistics of League of Legends tournaments. Furthermore, Mid-Season Invitational 2024 could potentially be the first international tournament in the title where the share of community casting surpasses that of official broadcasts in terms of watch time. While community casting constituted approximately 30% of the total viewing hours during MSI 2023, this figure has already surged to 50% for MSI 2024.

This change can be partly attributed to the increase in the number of channels: there are now 30 more channels compared to MSI 2023, and this number may rise further before the current tournament concludes. The proliferation of channels and community casters has diluted the audience for official broadcasts, with many viewers opting for streamer channels instead, resulting in a decline in official channel statistics.

Following two days of playoffs, two community casters — Caedrel and ibai — have secured spots in the top 5 most-watched channels for MSI 2024. Notably, Caedrel clinched the top position, surpassing all other channels.

The third day of playoffs for MSI 2024 is scheduled for May 9th, featuring a match between Bilibili Gaming and PSG Talon. You can track the tournament's progress on the live coverage page.