LoL World Championship draws more viewers than the Super Bowl
An estimated 200 million people from China alone tuned in to watch the League of Legends World Championship.
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Chinese team Invictus Gaming won the first ever LoL World Championship for the country, leading to the surge in viewers.
The numbers from Chinese streaming services usually dwarf the viewers from Twitch and YouTube, but some are skeptical about how legitimate the estimates are.
According to Chinese stream viewership on PandaTV, Huya, YouTube, Zhanqi and Egame there were over 200 MILLION concurrent viewers to watch China win their first Worlds, with over 100 Million on PandaTV alone. Twitch and YouTube had 2 million viewers. #Worlds2018
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) November 3, 2018
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PandaTV was responsible for the bulk of viewership, claiming 100 million tuned in on their platform. Twitch and YouTube had 2 million combined.
Previously, PUBG’s championships had a similar disparity when 38.7 of the 39.2 million viewers originated in Chinese streams.
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If the 200 million figure is accurate, LoL would be joining elite company in the sports world. American football’s Super Bowl drew an estimated 110 million viewers and the most watched UEFA Champions League Final was closer to 300 million.
League of Legends has a long way to go to catch the most popular sporting event in the world however, FIFA’s 2018 World Cup had a staggering 900 million viewer estimate.
