Season 5 APAC - Challenge Finals becomes the second most popular Snapdragon Pro Series event ever

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The Snapdragon Pro Series Season 5 APAC - Challenge Finals, which began on July 28 at the Quill City Convention Center in Malaysia, concluded on August 4. It ended as one of the most popular events in the series and one of the top entries by the same metric when looking at regional Southeast Asian competitions (not counting the MPL).

With many of the participants coming off the EWC x MLBB Mid Season Cup 2024, this regional league for Southeast Asia saw Falcons AP.Bren sneak past Team Liquid PH 4:3 to emerge as the champion. The winner took home $62,000, while the runner-up — who was unbeaten coming into the Grand Final — became richer by $30,000.

  Falcons AP.Bren emerged as the champion at this multi-region event (Image via ESL MLBB)   

With many teams from the SEA MPL regions in action, especially in the Playoffs, there were plenty of subplots to keep audiences interested throughout. This included the eventual victor getting revenge for a previous heartbreak and fans witnessing yet another all-Philippines final at an inter-regional competition.

The Snapdragon Pro Series Season 5 APAC - Challenge Finals peaked at 888.7K concurrent viewers during the Lower Bracket Semifinal between Falcons AP.Bren and Fnatic ONIC. This meeting of powerhouses from two successful rival nations saw the former come back from a game down to clinch a 2:1 win and advance to the Lower Bracket Final.

  Snapdragon Pro Series Season 5 APAC - Challenge Finals: basic stats and top matches   

Two teams were the undoubted stars at this event, as Falcons AP.Bren and Selangor Red Giants had four and three appearances in the most popular matches list. However, their clash was only third on this table, with the Grand Final taking up the fourth spot to reiterate the quality of teams on show and the followings they enjoy.

The support these sides received was also seen in the most popular teams leaderboard, with the top three separated by a mere 4K spectators. However, all this attention the major esports organizations received helped this Mobile Legends: Bang Bang competition notch 11.7M Hours Watched and 260.2K Average Viewers over 45 hours of airtime.

A point of interest from the Snapdragon Pro Series Season 5 APAC - Challenge Finals was the fact that YouTube lost a chunk of its audience to TikTok compared to the Snapdragon Pro Series Season 3 SEA - Challenge Finals. The one positive is that the red platform continues to be the platform of choice for Southeast Asian fans to catch the live MLBB action.

A measure of recent TikTok's rise can be seen in the fact that the most watched and popular channels at this event came from here, not something associated with live streaming in competitive video gaming as Twitch and YouTube remain the dominant names. Having also shown its value during the EWC x MLBB Women's Invitational 2024, the video-sharing app continues to grow and become a valuable part of the esports live broadcasting ecosystem.

  Most popular tournaments in the Snapdragon Pro Series so far   

The Season 5 APAC - Challenge Finals is also the second most popular tournament in the series. Only the Season 3 SEA - Challenge Finals has done better and remains the only entry to cross the 1M Peak Viewers mark in the Snapdragon Pro Series, which is known to be the world's largest multi-title mobile esports ecosystem.

The Snapdragon Pro Series Season 5 APAC - Challenge Finals also entered the top ten for most popular esports competitions so far in 2024 (excluding ongoing ones), which is pretty illustrious company to keep. Leading the pack is the MSI 2024, with the table dominated by prominent games in the industry.

Most popular esports events in 2024 (excluding ongoing competitions)

Moreover, it is one of the eight most popular events in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang when comparing regional competitions in Southeast Asia (apart from the MLBB Professional League). The increase in the number of channels covering the tournament also played a big part in this success, with the number going up by almost 40 from the Season 3 SEA - Challenge Finals.

Additionally, Falcons AP.Bren's much-awaited rematch with Selangor Red Giants — who won their EWC x MLBB MSC 2024 Grand Final 4:3 — attracted a lot of hype among fans. It finally came to fruition all the way at the end of the tournament, in the Lower Bracket Final, which helped keep fans invested in proceedings right till the end.

  Most popular inter-regional MLBB events ever in the SEA region   

With another multi-region competition done and dusted, the focus for most sides will switch to the next season of their respective regional Mobile Legends Professional Leagues. With potential qualification for the World Championship at stake, the action will be ferocious, and interested readers can follow Esports Charts for regular updates.