November 17th, 2023, Rishad Dsouza
Ahead of the finals of the League of Legends World Championships 2023, we look at the popularity of the esports event in a selection of diverse markets across the globe.
YouGov Global Fan Profiles data shows that the ‘Worlds’ tournament is the most popular esports event among esports followers across the globe. Esports followers in this piece refer to those who say they watch or follow esports on a regular basis. One in seven members of this audience (15%) globally say they have followed the Riot Games’ flagship esports event over the past 12 months, making it the most popular and putting it well ahead of other esports events we ask about such as Call of Duty League (8%) and The International (3%).
This massive popularity is largely driven by the popularity of the league in China, where a quarter of esports followers say they follow the Worlds (23%), compared to only 3% who say they follow The International for example. China has massive influence on the global averages because 47% of esports followers in our database of 51 markets are residents of that market.
But the league is even more popular in two other markets – South Korea (31%) and Chile (29%). Other South American markets with a high level of following for the Worlds include Argentina (22%) and Brazil (16%).
The only Western European market (even among the ones we’ve not displayed) that surpasses the global average is Spain (17%). Interest is still fairly robust in the UK (12%) and Germany (11%) but falls off in Italy (5%). Over in North America, Mexicans are more than twice as interested in the league as their American counterparts (17% vs 7%).
While Asian markets like China and South Korea lead the charts, shares of esports followers paying attention to the Worlds is somewhat lower in the Philippines (12%) and far lower in India (3%) and the UAE (4%), who bring up the bottom of the table. Interest is similarly muted in Australia (4%) and Sweden (6%).
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Methodology: YouGov Global Fan Profiles tracks the size, make-up, attitudes and behaviors of fan bases in 50+ markets around the world. Discover everything you need to know about fan bases globally. Learn more about Global Fan Profiles.