Mobile Legends viewership hits new milestone as M7 surpasses last year’s peak

Fans packed the venue during last year’s Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid-Season Cup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (MSC).

Esports World Cup

MANILA, Philippines — Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) continues to show steady and consistent growth in global esports viewership, with this year’s M7 World Championship already surpassing last year’s peak numbers.

This as 4.2 million fans tuned in to the first round knockout match between Indonesian teams ONIC Esports and Alter Ego.

Since the first M-Series in 2019, MLBB has seen an upward trajectory in the size of its audience across multiple regions. Its inaugural world championship, M1, drew more than 600,000 peak viewers, a number considered a breakthrough for a mobile title at the time.

According to Esports Charts co-founder and CEO Artyom Odintsov, M1 was the moment MLBB visibly shifted gears.

“The M1 World Championship in 2019 was that turning point. It was the first MLBB tournament to reach truly competitive viewership numbers in esports, with more than 600,000 peak viewers,” Odintsov told Philstar.com.

He added that much of MLBB’s sustained rise came during the pandemic years when many players and fans turned to online content.

“A significant part of the game’s growth came in 2020 and the years that followed. Before that, MLBB already had large tournaments in Southeast Asia. However, the real audience boom happened during the pandemic, when people stayed at home and consumed much more online content,” explained Odintsov.

MLBB’s regional leagues helped build that foundation. Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore formed the earliest competitive hubs, but the ecosystem has expanded far beyond its starting point.

“Almost every year, new regions and new teams are added to the ecosystem, which is awesome progress for the title,” noted Odintsov.

As MLBB’s audience matured, viewership behavior also changed with different types of content fueling the demand for online viewership. Fans have also begun following teams outside their home regions, especially as cross regional storylines became more common.

“As the audience grew, competition also emerged. Community streamers started creating alternative esports content, giving viewers more choice in who and how they watch.” noted Odintsov.

Several key decisions by the publisher contributed to MLBB’s steady viewership climb over the years. Odintsov cited the game’s presence at major gaming events like the Esports World Cup as an important factor in reaching Western audiences. He also highlighted the launch of Development Leagues in Southeast Asia, which filled the usual gaps in the competitive calendar. With these weekday leagues active alongside MPL seasons, many countries effectively had MLBB esports content running every day.

Odintsov also emphasized the role of co-streaming, which MLBB embraced earlier than many other titles. With the M7 World Championship, these platforms have been posting record-breaking numbers since the Swiss Stage.

“A major part of [MLBB’s] growth comes from TikTok Live. During the Swiss Stage, the platform set a new viewership record on the final day, and later reached more than 2 million peak viewers on the first day of the playoffs,” said Odintsov.

He also believed that MLBB’s long break since the end of the regional leagues also played a part in the weekly peak viewership.

The usual schedule of the M-Series World Championship is December but given the Southeast Asian Games and the World Esports Championship, M7 was pushed back to January. With the two-month long break between the professional league ending and M7, fans were eager for the return of high-level competition.

But even with rising numbers each year, Odintsov believes MLBB still has room to grow, especially among its massive player base.

“One of the key challenges is attracting casual MLBB players into watching esports competitions,” he said.

He emphasized that converting more casual players into viewers would strengthen organizations and the competitive ecosystem as a whole.

With this year’s world championship already breaking records, MLBB shows no signs of slowing down. Its continued growth across regions and platforms highlights the strength of its competitive ecosystem and the increasing global interest in mobile esports.

As Odintsov put it, “The strategy is simple: grow the game’s audience through marketing, and then gradually convert that audience into esports viewers.”