We talk about viewership a lot in esports because it’s one of the many ways we can gauge an event or esports’s popularity, and it’s safe to say the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational this year was a real banger.<\/p>
In\u00a02023, MSI only saw an average of 802,561 viewers<\/a>\u00a0across the mid-year League of Legends<\/a><\/em> tournament. In contrast, MSI\u00a0<\/a>2024 averaged 1,013,790 viewers<\/a>, which is an incredible improvement for the Riot Games series and a testament to how successful the MSI format changes<\/a>\u2014best-of-threes into best-of-fives\u2014have been. It was so good that viewership hit an all-time high, with over 2.8 million fans tuning in at its peak.<\/p>
![\"Gen.G](\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/gen-g-holding-trophy-2024-msi.jpg?w=640\")
While MSI 2024<\/a> as a whole saw\u00a0amazing\u00a0highs, the number\u00a0of fans watching the nail-biting and sweaty grand-final match between the LPL’s Bilibili Gaming and the LCK’s Gen.G peaked at\u00a02,616,116 viewers<\/a>, according to broadcast and streaming analytics company Esports Charts. However, it was the semi-final match between T1 and BLG on May 18 that broke MSI viewership records, with over 2.8 million<\/a>\u00a0people watching the incredible clash.<\/p>
It’s an impressive haul considering 2023’s MSI grand final between JD Gaming and BLG only peaked at 1.1 million viewers<\/a>; a little more than the average number of fans watching the entire MSI this year. It’s unclear whether this all-time viewership low was due to the grand final being between two LPL teams (so there was a lack of regional rivalry) or if it was because of the\u00a0stale champion meta<\/a>.\u00a0Thankfully, MSI this year vastly improved.<\/p>
While K’Sante was, once again, a top pick, much like\u00a0at 2023’s MSI,<\/a>\u00a0we didn’t see the same\u00a0Aphelios vs. Jinx AD carry combo in the bot lane<\/a>\u00a0or thankfully the\u00a0Nautilus mid lane<\/a>. Instead, this year’s MSI featured destructive Kalistas, which Gen.G’s Peyz piloted during the second game of the grand final to get 28 kills and a Pentakill, Ornn supports from T1’s Keria and BLG’s ON, a\u00a0regrettable Zac mid by Faker in the semi-finals<\/a>, and a shockingly deadly\u00a0Karthus jungle by Gen.G’s Canyon<\/a> in the first game of the finals.<\/p>
The final may not have broken all-time viewership like the semifinal between\u00a0T1 and BLG, but it was an intense and exhilarating whirlwind. Now all eyes turn to the 2024 League <\/em>World Championship<\/a> to keep up the hype.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
