Snapdragon Pro Series: qualifier without prize money attracts more viewers than major esports events

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The Snapdragon Pro Series Season 6 APAC - Open Finals was held as an online affair from November 4 to 10, serving as an exciting appetizer to the Wildcard stage of the upcoming Mobile Legends' M6 World Championship. It emerged as the most popular qualifier competition across all esports as per the Esports Charts database and as one of the series' top entries by peak concurrent viewership.

It has to be noted that 'qualifiers' here imply only those tournaments that are part of the lower tiers and act as stepping stones for teams to reach the actual main event. Hence, top-tier competitions like the LCK or BLAST Premier Showdown have not been counted when compiling our list of the top qualifier events.

This tournament witnessed 16 invited and 16 qualified teams, including several MLBB Professional League and non-MPL squads, battling for five coveted spots in the Season 6 Challenge Season. These qualified sides would then battle it out with 11 invited sides in the Challenge Season, with the top six advancing to the Season 6 APAC - Challenge Finals.

  Qualified teams for the Season 6 Challenge Season (Image via SPS on Facebook)   

This competition was held in the Swiss System format, with sides coming from regions like Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. At the end of around a week of action, Alter Ego and Aurora Gaming emerged as the top two with identical 4:0 records.

The event reached 839.1K Peak Viewers during the Swiss Stage, Day 4 clash between heavyweights FNC ONIC PH and RRQ Hoshi; the match itself hit 546.2K PV. This made it the most popular Open Finals competition in the Snapdragon Pro Series, doing 204% better than the next-best entry, the Season 5 Open Finals.

  Snapdragon Pro Series Season 6 APAC - Open Finals: basic stats and most popular matches   

What helped this game do so well was the hype around both teams coming into this tournament. RRQ Hoshi, perhaps the game's most popular side, was coming off its best result in a while at the MPL Indonesia Season 14 while the fast-rising FNC ONIC PH won its first domestic title at the MPL Philippines Season 14.

The Snapdragon Pro Series Season 6 APAC - Open Finals also recorded 6M Hours Watched and 151K Average Viewers over an airtime of around 40 hours. The former was also a record for Open Finals events, besting the previous season's corresponding figure by 95%.

FNC ONIC PH and RRQ Hoshi were the only sides with multiple entries on the most popular matches table, reinforcing the support they enjoyed from Mobile Legends: Bang Bang fans. One of these teams also emerged as the tournament's most popular side, with another Indonesian name completing the podium.

Apart from the hype around the champions of the two largest MPL leagues today, what helped this Mobile Legends: Bang Bang event do so well was the increase in the number of channels. It went up from 59 to 97, with the presence of major names like R7 Tatsumaki, set1awanade, and XINNN pulling in a lot more Indonesian viewers.

This also meant that Indonesian's peak concurrent viewership shot up by 147% in Season 6. Tagalog's audience reach also saw a spike, with its watch time increasing by 315% and the PV numbers witnessing an increment of 293.3%, led by the performances of Aurora Gaming and FNATIC Onic PH.

  Most popular esports qualifier events of all time   

As mentioned, the Snapdragon Pro Series Season 6 APAC - Open Finals emerged as the biggest qualifier competition in esports history. The next best entry also comes from the same Snapdragon Pro Series, with the Snapdragon Pro Series Season 3 SEA - Challenge Season notching 673.4K PV.

This means that it has outperformed some major global events across disciplines like IEM Cologne 2023, FNCS 2023 Global Championship, Arena of Valor Premier League 2024, and PUBG Mobile Global Championship 2021 Finals. It has also reinforced the importance of the Southeast Asian market in competitive video gaming today, especially when it comes to mobile esports.

The MLBB tournament also ended as the third most popular one in the Snapdragon Pro Series. The only two entries ahead of it are the Snapdragon Pro Series Season 3 SEA - Challenge Finals and the Snapdragon Pro Series Season 5 APAC - Challenge Finals. It was also the series' fourth most-watched competition; only the top four on this table have surpassed the 5M HW mark, with all of them coming over the past two years.

  How the Snapdragon Pro Series has shaped up in 2024 so far   

Snapdragon, which has emerged as a premier esports organizer over the past few years, mostly in the mobile gaming scene, has done a tremendous job in making all its competitions feel important. Tying up with the ESL FACEIT Group and top publishers like Activision Publishing, Inc., MOONTON Games, and Supercell has helped it attract the best of talents and teams from across the globe.

These partnerships were also vital in Year 3 of the Snapdragon Pro Series getting an expansion to include seven games. Seasons 5 and 6 of the world’s largest multi-title mobile esports league featured the largest prize pool in series history, totaling nearly $4.4 million and encompassing some prominent titles like Brawl Stars, Garena Free Fire, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Battlegrounds Mobile India.

With the MLBB season coming to an end, the focus will now shift to the M6 World Championship for all the teams that have qualified for it. The rest will continue to work hard as they prepare for the upcoming Snapdragon Pro Series events, with quite a large prize pool on the line as well.