2020 viewership stats prove League of Legends is the dominant esport

Jacob Hale

New esports viewership stats for 2020 show which events were the most watched last year — and proves once and for all that League of Legends remains number one in the competitive gaming world.

Esports fans across the world will argue about why their game is the best, with some fans perhaps having more stake to the claim than others.

Often, when we talk about the top-tier esports, we mean the likes of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and, of course, League of Legends.

Now, this new report that looks at the growth of esports and streaming throughout 2020 has helped one set of fans support their debate even further, as League of Legends dominates the top charts.

lol worlds 2020 damwon v suning
Worlds 2020 was by far the most viewed esports event of 2020.

While the year saw a number of high profile events canceled or postponed due to the ongoing global health situation, such as CSGO Majors and Dota 2’s The International, League clearly thrived.

This Stream Hatchet report takes an in-depth look at everything going on in the world of esports and online entertainment, crunching the numbers and putting together a list of the top five most viewed esports events of 2020.

While we all know how popular LoL is, you probably weren’t expecting them to completely wipe the floor with every other major esport out there, taking all five of the top spots between its World Championship and regional leagues.

esports events viewership 2020
League of Legends dominated the esports scene in 2020.

Obviously, Worlds was the biggest attraction, with 1.41 million hours watched, blowing every single other event out of the water. This was then followed by the LCK Summer and Spring seasons, LEC Summer and finally, rounding it out in fifth, the LCS Summer split.

It is also noted in the report that mobile games showed huge growth in 2020, with mobile esports viewership growing exponentially and it is even suggested that they may push for a top five spot in 2021.

Needless to say, League of Legends esports was once again the dominant force in 2020, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see this trend continue in 2021 and beyond.