The top 10 most-watched esports events of 2025

The 2025 esports season was full of high-class occasions, record-breaking performances and unforgettable moments throughout dozens of titles and genres.

With the calendar concluding, Esports Insider takes a have a look at the most-watched esports tournaments of 2025.

Like final 12 months, the 2025 record is predicated on viewership knowledge from esports knowledge platform Esports Charts, which doesn’t embrace Chinese language viewers numbers. Nonetheless, this overview paints an insightful image of the latest esports occasions calendar, highlighting two dominant titles by viewership: League of Legends and Cell Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB).

The highest 10 most-viewed esports occasions of 2025 kick off with the BLAST.television Austin Main 2025, an occasion that was particular for a number of causes.

It was the primary Main to happen within the US because the ELEAGUE Main: Boston in 2018. Furthermore, Austin proved to be a worthy host metropolis, as its Main turned the most-watched Counter-Strike competitors in historical past by hours watched.

From June third to twenty second, 563,411 common viewers gathered over 76m hours watched through the occasion’s almost 136-hour airtime. Compared, the largest CS match by peak viewership (2021’s PGL Stockholm Main) recorded round 71m hours watched.

With a determine of two.7m, the 2021 Stockholm Main nonetheless stays as the very best veiwed Counter-Strike occasion ever.

In the meantime, the BLAST.television Austin Main 2025 peaked at 1.79m viewers through the Grand Closing between MongolZ and Workforce Vitality. The latter emerged victorious, successful $500,000 (~£370,000) of the occasion’s $1.25m (~£926,000) whole prize pool.

In keeping with match organiser BLAST, the Austin Main additionally generated an financial affect of $102m (~£76.4m).

The MLBB Skilled League Philippines (MPL Philippines) is the cell recreation’s franchised tier-one circuit within the Philippines. 

As the primary regional MLBB competitors of the 12 months, MPL Philippines Season 15 passed off from February twenty eighth to June 1st. Eight groups competed for the occasion’s $150,000 (~£111,000) prize pool, with Workforce Liquid PH lifting the trophy.

Regardless of being a regional regular-season match, 1.8m peak viewers witnessed Workforce Liquid defeat its rival ONIC Philippines within the Grand Closing. This marks the very best viewership determine so far for MPL Philippines, surpassing the Season 14 file of 1.6m peak viewers.

Furthermore, 192,071 common viewers tuned in for over 31m hours watched throughout Season 15’s 162-hour airtime. 

2025 noticed vital modifications to the worldwide League of Legends esports ecosystem. To accommodate the introduction of an extra worldwide match earlier than the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), all regional leagues held kickoff occasions in early 2025.

In South Korea, the inaugural LCK Cup 2025 invited its 10 groups to battle from January fifteenth till February twenty third for a single seed on the new First Stand international occasion. Throughout its 112-hour airtime, 428,479 common viewers gathered over 48m hours watched.

LCK’s kickoff competitors additionally featured a novel Group Stage format through which groups from Group Baron would face off towards opponents from Group Elder. Furthermore, it was the official LCK debut of Fearless Draft, League of Legends’ new decide/band system.

Ultimately, it was Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) which emerged victorious and later turned the inaugural First Stand champion.

The preferred match of the LCK Cup, nevertheless, was the Playoffs sequence between HLE and LCK legends T1. The high-stakes match attracted 1.9m peak viewers and resulted within the elimination of T1 from the match.

First Stand itself recorded 1.1m peak viewers and 509,029 common viewers, and, due to this fact, couldn’t make it among the many high 10 occasions by viewership this 12 months.

The LCK’s recognition amongst esports followers persevered all through the league’s second chapter of the 12 months: the LCK 2025 Season.

Spanning greater than 5 months (April 2nd – September twenty eighth), the LCK 2025 Season featured a complete prize pool of ₩562.5m (~£281,000) and over 450 broadcast hours. 

The massive-scale competitors was divided into a number of sub-events, which supplied seeding for later rounds, and, most significantly, qualification for the remaining two international tournaments in 2025.

LCK’s Street to MSI 2025 was the primary spotlight of the spectacle. From June seventh to fifteenth, six LCK groups battled by way of a single-elimination bracket full of best-of-fives (BO5) solely. While Gen.G Esports got here out on high, T1 later defeated Hanwha Life to safe the second and remaining slot for MSI 2025.

With 1.97m peak viewers, this important match additionally turned the most-watched sequence on the Street to MSI. The competitors itself accounted for 19 airtime hours of the complete LCK 2025 Season, recording 752,227 common viewers and almost 15m hours watched.

It’s value noting that this might technically make the LCK Street to MSI 2025 the seventh hottest occasion, because it has been recorded as a standalone occasion by Esports Charts, separate from the LCK 2025 Season. Nevertheless, the LCK has this occasion as a part of the general 2025 Season, and so Esports Insider has added it as a part of the complete competitors.

The LCK 2025 Season set an excellent increased viewership file afterward, main as much as the season-ending League of Legends World Championship. Just like Street to MSI, the Season Playoffs had been full of BO5s throughout a double-elimination bracket.

As soon as once more, T1 was the preferred workforce to observe amongst LCK followers regardless of Gen.G lifting the season trophy. T1’s elimination match towards the regional champion recorded a whopping 2.03m peak viewers.

Regardless of the workforce’s elimination, T1 certified for Worlds because the area’s fourth seed and made League of Legends historical past later within the 12 months. Furthermore, the fan favorite performed in all 5 of the season’s most-watched matches (excluding LCK Street to MSI), every surpassing 1m peak viewers.

Whereas ESL’s Snapdragon Professional Collection (SPS) is a multi-genre cell esports circuit, its MLBB competitors continued to dominate the viewership leaderboard through the 2025 version.

From April seventh to thirteenth, the SPS Cell Masters 2025 noticed 12 groups from throughout the globe battle for $200,000 (~£148,000). Inviting high-profile groups and well-liked neighborhood casters, comparable to R7 Tatsumaki, paid off, because the occasion garnered a mean of 468,387 viewers and 17m hours watched throughout its 36-hour airtime.

As well as, 2.72m peak viewers watched ONIC Philippines win the Grand Closing towards RRQ Hoshi. The Semifinals between RRQ Hoshi and Workforce Liquid ID turned the second-most well-liked sequence at Cell Masters with 1.6m peak viewers.

Since its rebranding from the Southeast Asia Cup in 2024, the MLBB Mid Season Cup (MSC) has been the primary main worldwide match of the sport’s annual aggressive calendar. 

Its 2025 version passed off from July tenth till August 2nd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that includes a whopping prize pool of $3m (~£2.26m). Equally spectacular had been its viewers numbers. 

The 2025 Mid Season Cup recorded 3m peak viewers — nearly 700,000 greater than the earlier 12 months. Though Workforce Liquid PH claimed the trophy within the Grand Closing, it was a Knockout Stage sequence between RRQ.H and SRG.OG, which attracted essentially the most viewers.

Total, the Mid Season Cup garnered 599,873 common viewers and over 50m hours watched throughout its 84-hour airtime. These numbers make it the most-viewed international MLBB match of the 12 months.

Nevertheless, it must be famous that MLBB’s season-ending M7 World Championship would have probably exceeded MSC’s viewership statistics this 12 months if it had taken place. The championship is often held in December however was delayed till January 2026 to create space for the SEA Video games 2025.

The MPL Indonesia Season 16 was Indonesia’s remaining tier-one competitors earlier than the M7 World Championship in January 2026. 

From August twenty second till November 2nd, 9 groups competed for a ₹4.86m (~£223,000) prize pool in addition to two coveted slots within the annual championship. These seeds got to back-to-back MPL champion ONIC and Season 16 runner-up Alter Ego.

The Grand Closing between the 2 groups was additionally the most-watched sequence of the occasion, attracting over 3.1m peak viewers. As well as, almost 460,093 common viewers gathered over 101m hours watched throughout Season 16’s 220-hour airtime.

Following this 12 months’s modifications to League of Legends’ aggressive ecosystem, the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) 2025 was not the primary, however the second worldwide LoL match of the season.

Happening from June twenty seventh till July twelfth, the occasion noticed LCK legends T1 and Gen.G persevere towards worldwide rivals to conflict within the Grand Closing. A record-breaking 3.44m peak viewers witnessed Gen.G defeat T1 and win the lion’s share of MSI’s $2m (~£1.5m) prize pool.

Regardless of being the preferred MSI version in LoL historical past, MSI 2025’s common viewership of  955,205 was barely decrease in comparison with its predecessor. Nonetheless, the occasion recorded 75m hours watched throughout almost 79 hours of airtime.

While the Korean fandom contributed considerably to those viewership numbers, the double-elimination format with Fearless Draft was additionally obtained effectively by LoL followers worldwide. Furthermore, co-streamers comparable to Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont continued to draw a big proportion of esports viewership.

The second-most-watched esports match of 2025 is MPL Indonesia Season 15, underscoring the huge recognition of Cell Legends: Bang Bang esports, particularly among the many Indonesian neighborhood. 

With two MPL Indonesia occasions featured on this record, the nation stays the strongest area inside the MLBB ecosystem when it comes to viewership. Moreover, it’s a powerful feat for a regional match to beat viewers information of prestigious international competitions, comparable to MSI and Counter-Strike’s Intel Excessive Masters (IEM) Cologne.

MPL Indonesia Season 16 ran from March seventh till June fifteenth, with ONIC and RRQ Hoshi qualifying for the Mid-Season Cup beneath the gaze of 4.1m peak viewers. The general match garnered 488,525 common viewers and over 113m hours watched throughout its almost 232-hour airtime.

Maybe most significantly, Season 15 turned the preferred MPL Indonesia version so far and the third-most-watched match in MLBB esports historical past. Solely the M4 and M5 World Championships have recorded increased peak viewership.

The 2025 League of Legends World Championship (Worlds 2025) made esports historical past in a number of methods. For its winner, T1, this was the workforce’s third consecutive Summoner’s Cup and its sixth Worlds title general — an achievement which no different League of Legends organisation has achieved earlier than.

By way of viewership, Worlds 2025 was the preferred esports match of the 12 months by a big margin. The Grand Closing between T1 and KT Rolster drew 6.75m peak viewers. 

Furthermore, LCK followers witnessed the climax of the so-called Telecom Conflict, a decade-long rivalry between two esports organisations, every represented by a significant South Korean telecommunications firm (SK Telecom and KT Company).

Main as much as this second, 17 groups had been competing from October 14th till November ninth for the occasion’s $5m (~£3.7m) prize pool. All through almost 89 broadcast hours, 1,534,400 common viewers gathered over 136m hours watched.

Nevertheless, regardless of the importance of the occasion and its Grand Closing for League of Legends esports, 2025 Worlds recorded barely decrease peak viewership than final 12 months’s version. With 6.85m peak viewers, the 2024 World Championship stays the most-watched esports occasion in historical past, placing its successor in second place.

Dota 2’s most prestigious international occasion, The Worldwide, noticed its fourteenth version turn into the third hottest Dota match of all time. The Grand Closing between Xtreme Gaming and champion Workforce Falcons was adopted by 1.78m peak viewers. 

Total, The Worldwide 2025 recorded 582,117 common viewers and over 63m hours watched throughout a 108-hour airtime.

Equally, VALORANT Champions 2025 turned the third-most-viewed VCT occasion so far, with a powerful 1.47m viewers tuning in to the Grand Closing between Fnatic and the winner NRG. 

Moreover, Champions 2025 garnered 466,462 common viewers and almost 48m hours watched throughout its 102-hour airtime. Nevertheless, in keeping with Riot Video games, the viewership peak, together with China, is 5m.

Cell esports confirmed robust viewership all year long, even exterior of MLBB. The PUBG Cell World Cup 2025 peaked at 1.38m viewers on its remaining day. Broadcast for just below 39 hours, the competitors recorded 450,802 common viewers and round 17m hours watched.

Furthermore, Counter-Strike 2’s second Main of the 12 months additionally managed to achieve the 1m mark, recording a peak viewing determine of 1.58m.