A decade ago, esports viewership was largely centered on a handful of major tournament broadcasts. Today, competitive gaming has evolved into a continuous global viewing experience, reaching millions of fans across an increasingly diverse range of platforms, languages, and communities.
Esports Charts has been documenting this transformation since its earliest stages. The journey began at Worlds 2016, when three enthusiasts — Artyom Odintsov, Ihor Kryvych, and Ivan Danishevsky — started tracking esports viewership and laying the groundwork for what would become a leading source of esports audience data.
As the company celebrates its 10th anniversary, Esports Charts looks back at ten major developments that have shaped the industry over the past decade and examines how they transformed the way audiences watch competitive gaming.
“From day one, our mission has been to bring transparency and trust to esports viewership data — replacing inflated claims and guesswork with reliable, independently measured statistics.
Ten years later, Esports Charts covers more than 90,000 tournaments and events across over 160 games. Along the way, our data has helped us recognize major shifts early: we took mobile esports seriously long before it began breaking viewership records, and we started tracking Kick almost as soon as it launched.
But spotting trends was never the goal on its own. What makes me proudest is seeing publishers, organizers, teams, and brands use our data to make better decisions and help the industry grow.” — Ihor Kryvych, co-founder and CTO of Esports Charts.
1. Esports Viewership Reached New Heights
2022–2025: From the post-lockdown decline to three consecutive years of growth
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an unprecedented surge in esports consumption. However, the industry has since moved beyond its pandemic-era benchmarks, continuing to attract larger audiences.
In 2025, esports audiences generated a record 3.2 billion Hours Watched, excluding mainland China, marking the third consecutive year of growth.
The Worlds 2024 grand final between T1 and BLG reached 6.94 million Peak Viewers, making it the most-watched match in esports history. Worlds 2025 followed closely in second place, recording more than 6.7 million Peak Viewers.
2. Creators Brought Esports Broadcasting Full Circle
2021–2026: From a single event where co-streams surpassed the official broadcast to nearly half of all esports watch time
Esports broadcasting originally grew out of grassroots communities, with passionate fans providing match coverage for relatively small audiences. As competitive gaming expanded, broadcasts became increasingly professionalized.
However, creators eventually returned to the forefront on a much larger scale. At VCT Masters Reykjavík 2021, community casters accounted for 56.2% of the event’s 25 million Hours Watched, demonstrating the growing influence of alternative broadcasts.
Today, professional production and community-driven coverage coexist as important parts of esports distribution. During the first half of 2026, community broadcasts generated 46.7% of total watch time across major esports titles.
3. The Language of Esports Became Truly Global
2016–2026: Regional-language broadcasts challenged English’s dominance in esports viewership
For years, English served as the primary language for international esports coverage, particularly within the established PC gaming scene. As the industry expanded globally, however, audiences increasingly gravitated toward broadcasts that reflected their own languages, cultures, and communities.
By the first half of 2026, Asian-language streams collectively accounted for a larger share of global esports watch time than English-language broadcasts.
English coverage nevertheless remains highly valuable and can continue increasing its total viewing hours even as its overall market share declines. This shift highlights how esports has become a more diverse and internationally connected entertainment industry.
4. Mobile Esports Emerged as an Industry Powerhouse
2021–2026: From the first mobile esports all-time viewership record to more than a quarter of total esports watch time
Mobile esports has followed its own path toward global recognition. The widespread availability of affordable smartphones has made competitive gaming accessible to millions of players and viewers, particularly in markets where traditional gaming hardware is less common.
A major breakthrough came in 2021 when the Free Fire World Series Singapore reached 5.4 million Peak Viewers, becoming the most-watched esports event at the time.
By 2025, mobile titles accounted for more than a quarter of global esports Hours Watched. The momentum continued in January 2026, when the M7 World Championship established a new mobile esports record with 5.68 million Peak Viewers.
5. Esports Viewership Expanded Beyond Twitch and YouTube
2020–2026: TikTok and Kick transformed the esports broadcasting landscape
For years, Twitch and YouTube dominated international esports broadcasting. While both platforms remain essential to the industry, the ways audiences discover and consume competitive gaming have become considerably more diverse.
By Q3 2024, the two platforms together accounted for 86% of esports watch time.
Kick has emerged as another major player despite being a relatively recent entrant to esports broadcasting. Launched in late 2022, it has become the third most popular livestreaming platform by Peak Viewers, although its presence in esports has developed primarily over the past few years.
Its esports watch time increased by 66% in Q2 2026 alone, while the platform captured 52% of total watch time at StarLadder StarSeries Season 20. In 2025, Kick represented approximately 3.2% of total Hours Watched across all esports broadcasts, a tenfold increase from its share a year earlier.
Meanwhile, TikTok has experienced an even more dramatic rise. At the end of 2020, its total esports viewership amounted to only a few tens of thousands of hours. By the end of 2024, it had already surpassed Kick, SOOP, and Nimo TV in esports watch time.
Its influence continued to grow in 2025, when MPL Indonesia Season 15 recorded 1.53 million Peak Viewers on TikTok alone. At the MLBB Mid Season Cup, the platform contributed more than 42% of the event’s peak viewership.
6. Regional Leagues Became Global Viewing Attractions
2023–2025: From the first regional league to surpass 100 million Hours Watched to a season that outperformed Worlds
Regional esports competitions have increasingly established themselves as major international viewing attractions.
South Korea’s LCK has built a substantial global following, driven by the region’s competitive reputation and the popularity of its leading teams. In 2025, the league recorded 155.5 million Hours Watched, making it the year’s most-watched esports event and surpassing even the Worlds championship, which generated 132.9 million Hours Watched.
A similar transformation has taken place in mobile esports. MPL Indonesia Season 12 became the first regional league to exceed 100 million Hours Watched in 2023. The MPL franchise subsequently made history as the first esports series to reach one billion Hours Watched.
In 2026, MPL Indonesia’s English-language broadcasts also surpassed 250,000 concurrent viewers for the first time, further demonstrating the growing international appeal of regional competitions.
7. Esports Titles Discovered New Opportunities for Growth
2017–2025: PUBG achieved its esports viewership record eight years after its release
Some of the biggest names in esports have demonstrated remarkable longevity over the past decade, even as the competitive gaming landscape continued to evolve.
Ten years ago, titles such as StarCraft II and Hearthstone were prominent fixtures in the esports calendar, alongside League of Legends, Counter-Strike, and Dota 2. Today, League of Legends and Counter-Strike remain among the industry’s leading audience drivers, while other competitive titles have found new opportunities to expand their reach through renewed investment and development.
PUBG has experienced a notable resurgence, with its Nations Cup establishing a new viewership record of 818,000 Peak Viewers in 2025. Meanwhile, Rocket League and Fortnite set their own records in 2026.
Newer titles have also demonstrated their ability to attract substantial audiences. Valorant, for example, surpassed one million Peak Viewers less than a year after its launch in 2020.
8. Esports Teams Became Powerful Audience Magnets
2026: A regional qualifier attracted 2.27 million viewers largely because of the teams competing
The popularity of individual esports organizations has become an increasingly important factor in driving viewership, sometimes carrying as much influence as the significance of the competition itself.
Fans develop lasting connections with their favorite teams and continue supporting them through roster changes, competitive setbacks, and shifting tournament results.
T1 provides a notable example. Its 2026 LCK decider against Gen.G, which also served as a qualifier for the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), attracted 2.27 million Peak Viewers.
A similar trend can be seen in Indonesia, where RRQ Hoshi helped push MPL Indonesia Season 17 beyond two million viewers despite enduring a challenging 0:7 run during the group stage.
These examples demonstrate how strong team identities and loyal fan communities can significantly influence esports audiences, regardless of tournament circumstances.
9. Esports Evolved Into an Always-On Viewing Experience
2018–2025: Top streamers became tournament organizers
Over the past decade, the esports calendar has expanded significantly. What was once concentrated around a limited number of major championships has evolved into an almost uninterrupted schedule of competitive broadcasts.
In 2025, Esports Charts tracked 3,255 tournaments covering more than 97,800 hours of competition, with the number of events continuing to increase annually.
A growing part of this activity now comes from content creators themselves, particularly through tournaments organized by popular streamers. Events such as Ninja’s Fortnite competition in Las Vegas and Tfue’s Tfault Throwdown demonstrated how creators could turn their established communities into audiences for full-scale competitive events.
For these tournaments, viewers were drawn not only by the competition but also by their support for the creators involved.
This model continues to thrive through initiatives such as Twitch Rivals, which brings content creators together for competitive entertainment. It has helped establish another dimension of esports, where the host, participants, and event format are just as important as the competition itself.
Alongside traditional professional leagues, creator-led tournaments provide additional opportunities to attract audiences and transform competitive gaming into a shared community experience.
10. Tournament Organizers Rethought the Structure of Major Events
2025: From traditional fixed brackets to teams choosing their own opponents
Over the past decade, esports organizers have increasingly experimented with tournament formats to maintain audience interest and make competitions more engaging from beginning to end.
In 2025, BLAST introduced an innovative Counter-Strike format that allowed participating teams to select their opponents while competing for cash bounties.
One of the tournament’s standout matches was NAVI’s opening encounter against the all-female Imperial Valkyries, which attracted nearly 500,000 concurrent viewers.
As esports events compete for attention in an increasingly crowded tournament calendar, organizers face growing pressure to develop formats that make every match and stage meaningful to audiences.
Looking ahead, creative tournament structures and innovative competition formats are expected to remain important tools for keeping viewers engaged and strengthening the overall esports experience.
“Looking back at these ten years, what strikes me most is how our role has changed. We went from a website fans checked after a big final to a strategic partner that organizers, publishers, teams and brands rely on: to plan events, to prove their value to sponsors, and to decide where to invest next.
Along the way, viewership data has become something of a common currency for the market, and we are grateful to have played a part in that. In the next decade, audiences will spread across even more platforms, creators and languages, and the need for reliable data will only grow. That is exactly where we want to be: next to our partners, helping esports grow with data it can trust.” — Artyom Odintsov, co-founder and CEO of Esports Charts.
