M5 may be behind us, but we are still reeling from that amazing grand final which broke viewership records for MLBB and the M-Series itself.
On December 17th, 2023, we were all treated to a grand finale of epic proportions at the M5 World Championship in the Philippines. The tournament itself spanned over a period of a little over three weeks and included a Wildcard Tournament for the first time in the history of the M-Series, a Group Stage, which featured teams from Mongolia, Nepal, and even China, and a superb knockout stage which saw the home-ground advantage coming in strong for AP.Bren, who came out on top for the second time. With all of that, viewers from around the globe tuned in to make the M5 grand finals the second most-watched event in esports for 2023.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is definitely no stranger to breaking records when it comes to viewership, having done so on multiple occasions. But, as the mobile gaming scene continues to grow and blow up across the globe, Moonton continues to nurture the ecosystem of the game, causing it to take over some of the more popular esports titles when it comes to viewers. With a staggering peak viewership of 5,067,107 during the final day, MLBB claimed its highest ever viewership at the M-Series – and slotted in at second place for 2023’s most watched esports event, with League of Legends Worlds 2023 ahead with 6,402,760 viewers.
Although the M5 may have seen lower viewership during its Group Stage this year, with a few changes to the format, it still held up quite well in the long run. Not only did the viewership numbers of M5 see MLBB take second place in the 2023 viewership numbers, but also placed it at third in esports overall – with Free Fire holding the second-place spot… for now.
With the M-Series returning to Malaysia in 2024, we could possibly see MLBB grow even further and maybe take the top spot by the time we reach the culmination of the year – or maybe even before with the likes of MSC and the MPL still coming too. We will have to wait and see just what the new year has in store for us, but we will definitely be following closely and make sure that we catch every moment MLBB smashes records again.
