DATA published by the analytics agency Esports Charts reveal that both Blacklist International and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang ranked highly in the viewership charts for 2021.
In terms of the most popular teams, Blacklist International ranked 7th with 53.29 million hours watched and 3.11 million peak viewers. Though they weren’t the top seeded team in terms of esports viewership, they dominated the Facebook engagements category in 2021.
They weren’t the only MLBB team that was featured, as Indonesia’s powerhouses RRQ and EVOS Legends (for which Esports Charts used the local Nexplay EVOS logo) both surpassed the Codebreakers. RRQ garnered 67.7 million hours viewed and 3.19 million peak viewers, while EVOS earned 57.2 million hours with 2.39 million peak viewers.
Other teams that reached the top 10 included five League of Legends teams with DWG KIA earning the number 1 spot, boasting 96.31 million hours viewed and 4.02 million peak viewers. Their rivals T1, MAD Lions, Cloud9, and Gen.G Esports were also featured.
Only two Valve-based teams were featured, namely CS:GO’s Natus Vincere and Dota 2’s Team Spirit.
Is Mobile Legends a growing esports phenomenon?
The overall viewership numbers of MLBB teams have contributed to the game’s overall growth in terms of esports viewership.
Moonton’s flagship mobile MOBA game made leaps and strides as they earned the 3rd place with 387.29 million hours watched and 3.19 million peak viewers, a record which they attained during the M3 World Championship, surpassing M2’s 3.08 million.
They even usurped Dota 2, as they only had 347.64 million hours and 2.74 peak viewers, though it can be argued that Dota had a limited major events due to the global pandemic.
Meanwhile, League of Legends and CS:GO dwarfed the MLBB community as the former boasted 664.16 million hours and 4.02 peak views, whilw the latter garnered 410.81 million hours and 2.75 million peak views.
Given these numbers, MLBB might further grow as a worldwide phenomenon but according to Team Secret CEO, John Yao, the viewerships have been centered on Indonesia and the Philippines.
But he could potentially be proven wrong with the impact caused by the MPL scene in Brazil.
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