League of Legends 2019’s third most popular sport

Riot Games revealed that the 2019 League of Legends Championship Series Grand Finals between G2 Esports and FunPlus Phoenix was the most-watched game in League of Legends history.

G2 Esports and FunPlus Phoenix faced off this year in the World Championship Grand Finals. The Chinese esports team took home the trophy after a dominating performance against the European fan-favorites. Riot Games broadcast the tournament on twenty different platforms and a global scale, reaching new audiences and bringing in new viewers.

Mastercard built an esports village outside Hôtel de Ville. Image Credit: Riot Games

Teams from thirteen regions took part in Worlds 2019. FunPlus Phoenix won $834,375 in prize money after a dominating performance in the Grand Finals.

Riot Games now revealed that over 100 million viewers spectated Worlds 2019. During Grand Finals, the match reached a peak of 44 million concurrent viewers.

The 2019 World Finals witnessed record viewership numbers. Image Credit: Riot Games.

The match between G2 Esports and FunPlus Phoenix was broadcast in over sixteen different languages on November 10. This World Championship comprised 120 games across Berlin, Madrid and Paris. Fans across the world watched more than 1 billion hours of content during the five weeks of competition. Additionally, Worlds 2019 featured the most diverse meta of any previous World Championship with 99 champions picked or banned.

Contributions to Detroit

Riot Games also released a report about 2019’s LCS, highlighting key metrics like attendance, target demographics, and contributions to the local economy. According to the report, over 53 thousand fans attended the Summer and Spring LCS splits. Riot Games claims the LCS Summer split alone contributed nearly $5.44 million to Detroit’s local economy.

2019 LCS Viewership Statistics

Riot Games also reported on Average Minute Audience data. The LCS had an AMA of 124 thousand amongst 18 to 34-year-olds, making it the third most popular professional sports league in that age group. Releasing viewership numbers in a standardized AMA format also speaks to the esports industry’s maturity. Earlier this year, Riot Games partnered with Nielsen to measure brand exposure during LEC, LCS, and Riot’s International events.

An AMA of 124 thousand makes League of Legends one of the most popular sports titles. The global AMA figures for Worlds 2019 stood at 21.8 million. With standardized figures set to become the norm across the esports industry, investors can get a better representation of the massive esports viewership numbers.

LCS 2020 Schedule

According to Inven Global, Riot Games may introduce changes to the LCS Schedule, affecting teams in 2020. LCS matches currently take place over the weekend, but matches might start on Monday instead. Riot Games aims to highlight academy matches with this change in schedule and will shift the off-day from Monday to Tuesday.

Here is how the LCS schedule could look like in 2019.

• Friday – 4 remote Academy games, followed by 1 remote Featured Academy Match.
• Saturday – 4 in-studio LCS games, followed by 1 in-studio Academy game.
• Sunday – 4 in-studio LCS games, followed by 1 in-studio Academy game.
• Monday – 3 in-studio Academy games, followed by 2 in-studio LCS games.

Written by Rohan Samal