Worlds 2025 sees near 80% surge in sponsor audio mentions
During the playoffs of the 2025 League of Legends World Championship, event sponsors were mentioned over 200 times by casters, analysts and on-air talent across the official broadcast. That marks a substantial year-over-year increase in total mentions. Esports Charts analyzed the event’s Knockout Stage audio to reveal which brands, teams and players dominated the conversation.
For this analysis, we focused on the main English-language feed of the tournament, streamed on Riot Games’ official channel: the most likely place for fulfilling any sponsor mention requirements. The rise in sponsor mentions is partly explained by the expanded partner roster this year: five new brands joined, while only one from last season exited. At the same time, mentions of long-standing partners also grew — in some cases dramatically, while a few brands saw their presence on the broadcast decline slightly.
Although the main tournament sponsors appeared on the broadcast’s rotating banners at roughly equal intervals, their audio mentions told a different story. Last year’s most-mentioned brand, Mercedes-Benz, was referenced about 25% less often this time, dropping to sixth overall in total mentions and shoutouts. Mastercard also saw a noticeable dip, with its on-air shoutouts down by roughly 30% year-over-year.
Several other sponsors, however, experienced major spikes in visibility: some were mentioned two to three times more often than last year. Verizon, Red Bull and OPPO all saw substantial growth, while Opera recorded the most dramatic surge, with its mentions soaring by over 328% year-over-year.
Several of the tournament’s new partners were also highlighted on broadcast, with the Esports World Cup standing out as the most frequently mentioned. Riot Games continues to build on the close collaboration it first established with the event last year.
When it comes to player mentions, the top five were exclusively finalists, but the most frequently named player wasn’t Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, as many might assume. The honor of most mentioned athlete went to Gwak “Bdd” Bo-sung, KT Rolster’s mid laner, who delivered a stellar campaign. He was named MVP in both the quarterfinal against CTBC Flying Oyster and the semifinal versus Gen.G Esports, where KT entered the series as at least a mild underdog.
Faker missed the top spot by just 13 mentions but held a comfortable second, recording 46% more mentions than his teammate Choi “Doran” Hyeon-jun, who finished third. After all, Faker’s legacy as the game’s defining icon and an untouchable legend remains firmly intact.
Overall, 25 players from the playoffs were mentioned at least 100 times each on the English broadcast. Among the non-finalists, Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon drew the most attention: his Gen.G roster continues to chase that elusive championship despite another strong season. The most-mentioned Chinese player was Wenbo “JackeyLove” Yu, while Rasmus “Caps” Winther led the count among Western representatives.
Unsurprisingly, the finalist teams topped the list for total mentions, though the gap between them was much narrower than last year, when T1 outpaced their rivals by over 300 shoutouts. This time, the difference was just 10% (139 mentions), while both finalists recorded roughly double the mentions of any other team.
Third place came as no surprise: Gen.G, once again the tournament favorite, fell short of the trophy. More unexpected was G2 Esports landing fourth, despite being eliminated in the quarterfinals. It makes sense given they were the West’s only remaining hope, yet it’s still striking that Top Esports, which advanced further, generated fewer mentions overall.
In the Worlds 2025 Grand Final, T1 defeated KT Rolster 3:2, securing their third straight world title and a record sixth championship overall. The event narrowly missed breaking a new viewership record, finishing as the second most popular esports tournament in history outside mainland China.
Read also:
Detailed Esports data at your fingertips.
Subscribe to & start exploring!
