Top esports teams of Q1 2026

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As we enter the second quarter of the new year, it is time to take a look back at what happened during the first three months, specifically, the most-watched esports teams. This Q1 ranking takes into account the overall watch time, including live viewership across tournaments and matches from all platforms and titles and across the console, PC and mobile gaming genres.

A leaderboard looking at the bigger picture means that the results can be a lot more revealing. And what emerged from the viewership data for the first quarter of 2026 was that two games dominated the watch time charts: Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Counter-Strike 2.

How many MLBB sides were among the most-watched esports teams in Q1 2026?

MLBB had five entries on this top-ten leaderboard, with its esports viewership for the first quarter of the year dominated by one event, the M7 World Championship. This mobile esports spectacle captured the imagination of fans like never before, culminating in a record-breaking run that saw it become the most-watched mobile esports tournament in history.

Atop the list of the most-watched sides in Q1 2026 was Alter Ego, which had long been one of the most consistent teams in regional competition, even if tournament wins went to more popular names. The Indonesian representative went all the way to the world championship final, but it could not break its country's curse at this showpiece event, once again falling to rivals the Philippines.

Nevertheless, Alter Ego punched above its weight and exceeded all expectations to clinch its biggest finish in competitive MLBB. The team's lengthy journey to the finals via the Lower Bracket also meant that it racked up most of its 55.36 million Hours Watched (HW) across the first three months of the year from the latest edition of the MLBB World Championship.

Tournament winner and MLBB's newest world champion, Aurora Gaming PH, finished second on the watch time table for Q1 2026. A relatively new name in the MLBB esports scene, the side from the Philippines broke all pre-tournament predictions to enjoy a serene run to global glory.

It lost only one game, to Team Liquid PH in the Swiss Stage, en route to the world championship crown. While it also began its domestic journey in the new season at the end of March, most of the 33.54 million HW it put up over the first quarter of 2026 came from the M Series event.

Malaysian heavyweight Selangor Red Giants clinched the third spot on this table with 31.43 million watch hours. The team has been on a great run at global events over the past few years, including clinching the MLBB Mid Season Cup 2024. This was Malaysia's first international victory in MLBB tournaments and reiterated why the Southeast Asian nation is a growing threat to the international dominance that the Philippines and Indonesia have enjoyed over the years.

Team Liquid PH and ONIC Esports were the other MLBB sides to make it here, accruing between 27 and 30 million HW to finish in the fourth and sixth spots, respectively. While the Team Liquid brand made it back-to-back top four finishes at the MLBB World Championship, it was another story of what if for ONIC.

ONIC, the most dominant side in the Mobile Legends Professional League Indonesia in the 2020s, has not been able to convert this consistency into international trophies. A second-place finish at the M5 World Championship is its best showing yet, and a disappointing showing at the M7, where it lost more games than it won, summed up this inability to do well on the global stage despite almost always going in as a favorite.

Did CS2 sides finish among the top esports teams in Q1 2026 by watch time?

Four sides from Valve's legendary shooter made the cut in this ranking, with FURIA being the lone entry in the top five. The Brazilian darling started the year brightly, finishing third and second at the BLAST Bounty Winter 2026 and IEM Kraków 2026, respectively. While more recent results have been tougher, it did play 25 matches during this period, accumulating 29.54 million HW.

Team Vitality, which continued the stellar momentum it showed across 2025 in the first three months of the new year, is the next-best-ranked CS side with 23.53 million HW. The French esports organization already has multiple titles in 2026 and looks like the most likely winner when the year's first Major comes around in a few months.

PARIVISION and Natus Vincere were the other Counter-Strike 2 teams to make the cut here, helped by the high number of matches they played in Q1 2026 (27 and 23, respectively). Both have been among the more consistent names on the circuit this year, meaning they are among the five best sides as per Valve's Regional Standings (VRS).

Which was the most-watched League of Legends team in Q1 2026?

Last but not least is G2 Esports, the one entry outside of MLBB and CS to find a place in this table. The European League of Legends heavyweight played 20 matches across two events in Q1 2026, notching 19.65 million HW in the process. It won the LEC 2026 Versus and then finished second at the first global competition of the year at the First Stand 2026.

Which esports sides were among the most popular in Q1 2026?

A look at this table shows just how dominant MLBB's flagship event was in the first quarter of the year. All ten entries were part of the M7 World Championship, with Indonesian sides Alter Ego and ONIC Esports taking the top two spots.

ONIC's popularity was once again reinforced with this appearance, as it managed to attract over 1.88 million Average Viewers (AV) across its nine matches, with seven coming at the MLBB World Championship. Meanwhile, Alter Ego, not known for being a major audience driver, benefited from ONIC's early exit, as Idnoesian fans followed its jounrey all the way to the final, willing it on to bring the global crown home after a long drought.

While other prominent names mentioned in the watch time table also made it to the top five, MLBB's diversity was evident in the bottom half of the table. Names like Team Falcons, Team Spirit and EVIL, not usually associated with massive fan followings, also made it here on the back of support from their respective home regions.

RRQ Hoshi, arguably MLBB's most popular side, despite recent struggles to match these expectations, managed to finish tenth despite playing just two games. That these two matches came in the recently started MPL Indonesia Season 17 shows just how much support the Indonesian team retains, and what a missed viewership opportunity it was for the M7 that it was unable to qualify for the mega event.