Worlds quarterfinals reach record viewership, even with a smaller Korean audience than last year

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The 2024 Worlds Championship is getting closer to its conclusion. Out of the 20 participants, only four top teams remain in the tournament, having defeated their opponents in the Knockout Stage. It’s now set that the championship trophy will be decided in a showdown between South Korea and China, but first, representatives from these countries will face off in two semifinal domestic rivalries.

Four quarterfinal matches of the 2024 Worlds Championship took place from October 17 to 20. In the first two series, Chinese teams dominated: Weibo Gaming took down their compatriots from LNG Esports, and Bilibili Gaming defeated the Korean team Hanwha Life Esports. Interestingly, the viewer counts for these matches were even lower than some of the group stage games.

The next two quarterfinals, however, drew much greater interest from fans. The highlight match of the round was the clash between T1 and Top Esports. These teams had previously faced off in the final of the Esports World Cup 2024 during the summer, where T1 emerged victorious. Their next encounter took place in the Swiss Stage of the Worlds 2024, and Top Esports managed to avenge on the reigning world champions. The decisive match in the Knockout Stage was meant to settle the score between these teams, and T1 secured a convincing victory. This series peaked at over 3.6 million concurrent viewers, making it the most popular quarterfinal in Worlds history.

The final quarterfinal between Gen.G and FlyQuest was undoubtedly the most thrilling: the matchup between the favorite and the underdog nearly ended in an upset for the "dark horse" from North America. FlyQuest was just one step away from the semifinals, but they couldn’t close it out in the fourth map and ended up losing the fifth as well. Unfortunately for American League of Legends fans, the tournament’s biggest upset didn’t happen, but thanks to the unexpected drama, the game between Gen.G and FlyQuest attracted nearly as many viewers as the match between T1 and TES.

Four quarterfinals racked up a total of 33.9 million Hours Watched for the 2024 Worlds Championship — a 47% increase compared to the same period last year. Average viewership for quarterfinals jumped by 42%, while peak viewership increased by just over 20%. Interestingly, the biggest growth came from English and Vietnamese broadcasts, while Korean viewership surprisingly dipped slightly: last year’s series between T1 and LNG attracted a bit more viewers on Korean streams.

The standout match in the quarterfinals was the series between T1 and TES, which drew 3.6 million concurrent viewers, allowing Top Esports to set a new personal viewership record. However, the record isn’t just held by TES; HLE, FlyQuest, and Gen.G also achieved this milestone, with Gen.G likely to set a new personal best in the upcoming series against T1.

Most popular matches of Worlds 2024 Quarterfinals

In addition to the teams, some streamers also set new records: British community caster Caedrel attracted over 340.7K concurrent viewers during FLY vs Gen.G, achieving the best result in his channel’s history. Notably, Caedrel currently leads in Hours Watched and Average Viewers among all channels covering Worlds 2024.

The first semifinal of Worlds 2024 will take place on October 26, featuring Weibo Gaming against Bilibili Gaming, a matchup that mirrors the semifinal series from Worlds 2023. It’s worth noting that Weibo Gaming secured a hard-fought victory back then with a score of 3-2, only to lose to T1 in the grand final.

The second semifinal is scheduled for October 27, where Gen.G will face T1. This Korean derby is expected to set a new viewer record for the semifinals, as it will showcase two giants of the LCK, the most popular league in the world. These teams have a rich and exciting history of rivalry, which you can learn more about in our match history database.