Worlds 2023 viewership feature of Team BDS, LOUD, and GAM Esports

Following the final day of matches for the Play-In stage at Worlds 2023 last Sunday, Team BDS and GAM Esports have officially qualified for the main stage of the World Championship. Arguably the two best teams that could have possibly qualified for the main event, Team BDS was the most-watched team of the entire Play-In stage, receiving huge international support from the EMEA region.

In contrast to this kind of viewership accumulation, GAM Esports and LOUD received larger support from a monolithic regional audience but remained some of the most popular teams at this stage of Worlds.

The main event of Worlds 2023 will kick off this Thursday, the 19th of October, but before then, let’s look back at which teams were the most popular among fans in our viewership statistics. As mentioned, Team BDS, GAM Esports, and LOUD were some of the most popular teams of the stage, but there are some interesting dynamics to observe here when compared to last year.

Multinational support of Team BDS

Team BDS achieved a largely international source of viewership. Team BDS, a majority-French European roster, benefited from being the sole representative of the EMEA region at the Play-In stage of Worlds 2023. The support of the EMEA region launched them to the rank of most-watched team of the Play-In, and their viewership sources were diverse and multinational.

Highlights of the Qualification Match between Team BDS and PSG Talon

Team BDS’ Qualification Match against PSG Talon was the most-watched match of the Play-In stage and by a large margin. The game received 2M+ Hours Watched more than the second-most-watched match, the other Qualification Match between the two Vietnamese teams. Team BDS’ Qualification Match was the most-watched match in all languages but three: which includes Vietnamese and Portuguese.

Team BDS were as you’d expect the most popular team among French-speaking audiences, but their influence did not end there. For the majority of European broadcasts, Team BDS was the most-watched team according to our Hours Watched metric. Team BDS received the most watch time for multiple languages during the Play-In stage, including French, Turkish, and many more from the EMEA region.

Whereas LOUD and GAM Esports benefited from the dogmatic support of their respective local regions, Team BDS enjoyed much more popularity thanks to the international attention they received from the EMEA region in particular. Team BDS was the most popular team among fans during the Play-In stage, and their qualification for the main events bodes well for the viewership of Worlds 2023.

Regional support of teams at Worlds 2023 Play-In

GAM Esports was the first team to qualify for the main event, defeating fellow Vietnamese roster Team Whales in the first Qualification Match of Sunday. The match was hugely popular among Vietnamese audiences and was the most-watched match of the Play-In stage for Vietnamese audiences, receiving over 300K more hours of watch time than any other match in the Play-In.

To highlight just how hugely watched this match was by Vietnamese fans, the only match from Worlds 2022 to record a higher Vietnamese Average Viewers figure was the Grand Final between T1 and DRX. While regional teams are usually supported by their local region, 2023 took this to another level.

Looking for more in-depth data and statistics on your favourite esports event? PRO Subscribers of Esports Charts have access to much more in-depth data for our thorough databases of esports events. We also offer in-depth statistics for events that can be purchased on-demand for specific events, covering language distribution, platform distribution, community caster statistics, and more.

At Worlds 2023, Vietnamese teams in the Play-In stage recorded double the Vietnamese Average Viewers than that of non-Vietnamese teams. In 2022, this gap was much smaller as Vietnamese fans preferred their local teams, but still recorded substantial Average Viewers figures for other teams. In this way, Vietnamese viewership seems to be following in the footsteps of the Portuguese fans.

Brazilian fans are some of the most passionate and loyal in esports, photo from Stephanie Lindgren via ESL Gaming

Brazilian viewership for Worlds events has traditionally been monolithic, with the fans supporting the roster of LOUD far more than any other team. At the end of Worlds 2022, T1 was by far the most popular team according to Average Viewers, thanks to their international fanbase and exemplary performance at the event. T1 was the most popular team of Worlds 2022 by Average viewers in every language except four: two of which being Japanese and Portuguese.

Viewership from Japan is another region that features loyal and committed fans, however, their loyalty pales in comparison to that of Brazillian fans. Japanese viewership was highest for DetonatioN FocusMe matches, which received 8% more Average Viewers than T1. Regarding Portuguese viewership, LOUD received 81% more Average Viewers than T1.

The dedication of Portuguese-speaking League of Legends fans goes even further, as T1 were only the fifth-most-watched team according to Average Viewers of Portuguese-language broadcasts. As LOUD were eliminated from the Play-In stage of 2022, the most-watched teams by Average Viewers are all teams that LOUD competed against during the Play-In stage.

This trend continued during the Play-In of Worlds 2023, as LOUD recorded 42% more viewers than the second-best-performing team in Portuguese-speaking Average Viewers. With LOUD eliminated from Worlds 2023, it seems likely that once again Portuguese viewership for Worlds has climaxed during the Play-In stage.

The most-watched teams of the Play-In stage by language

Compared to Japanese, for which the most-watched match of the event was the Qualification Match between PSG Talon and Team BDS, Vietnamese and Portuguese-language data showed much more regionally motivated features. For both Vietnamese and Portuguese-language broadcasts, games of their respective regional team filled out the top three most-watched matches of the Play-In, with the highly watched PSG vs BDS match ranking only fourth in both languages by watch time.

As we looked at in previous articles for this year’s Worlds, Vietnamese has experienced substantial growth this year and become one of the most popular languages of the Play-In stage. As Vietnamese viewership grows in League of Legends, it seems to edge closer and closer to the path Portuguese has taken. As Worlds 2023 progresses, keep an eye on Vietnamese viewership for how it performs in matches excluding GAM Esports, which may highlight how much the viewership from this region relies on national pride.

With both Team BDS and GAM Esports qualified for the main event, Worlds 2023 is likely to be an extremely strong event in terms of viewership. With the power of the EMEA and Vietnam behind it, Worlds 2023 may be able to continue to break records in esports live-streaming. How far GAM Esports can make it in the main event may be key for Vietnamese viewership, however, as the language is becoming more monolithic and following the footsteps of Portuguese in viewership statistics.