esports: League of Legends Worlds (Riot Games), the most watched event in 2021 (excluding China)

With 174.8 million hours viewed on various streaming platforms, the annual League of Legends World Championships, or Worlds, organised by Riot Games from 05/10 to 06/11/2021, was the most watched esports competition (excluding the Chinese market) in 2021, according to figures from the specialist audience media Esports Charts, on 24/12/2021.

"It is not only the highest total for this year, but the highest of all time!" said Esports Charts, while the previous record was held by the Worlds 2020 (+25% in 2021). The International 10, the annual Dota 2 world championship (published by Valve), was second place with 107.2 million hours watched, ahead of the MPL Indonesia (3^rd with 76.9 million hours watched), a local competition played on the smartphone game Mobile Legends (Moonton).

The Worlds 2021 also topped the list in terms of peak viewing figures for the year. The final of the competition, won by China's EDward Gaming (LPL ) 3-2 versus South Korea's defending champions DWG Kia (LCK), generated a record peak audience of 4.018 million viewers on Riot Games' Twitch channel on 06/11/2021…