League of Legends giants T1 have emerged victorious at the inaugural Esports World Cup over LPL squad Top Esports, stepping up when it mattered most in the 3-1 win—but a record low number of fans tuned in to see the victory.
The Faker-led outfit was made to work for the win against a determined TES who looked on track to win without a game lost after downing Gen.G and G2. The Chinese squad, undefeated in the LPL Summer Split, opened the final with much fanfare after a 23-minute shellacking of the Korean squad, but Faker and co. managed to rebound and never looked back, winning three straight games to secure the trophy.
It’s T1’s second international League trophy in as many years after their historic World Championship 2023 triumph, but the win at EWC will leave far less of an impact than an MSI or Worlds. This week’s tournament saw just eight squads attend and play out a single-elimination bracket—an outdated format—and the allure of the million-dollar prize pool in Saudi Arabia wasn’t enough to break new ground for viewership.
EWC 2024 was the least-viewed international League event in over five years. The EWC grand final cracked just 1.1 million viewers, according to stats site Esports Charts. It’s the least-watched grand final since MSI 2018’s bout between RNG and DRX, and while the week’s broadcast averaged a respectable 565,093 per match, the numbers pale in comparison to League’s premier tournaments or even its bigger regional finals in the LCK and LPL.
Given the event received little to no promotion by Riot Games compared to Worlds or MSI, and the unfavorable Saudi timezone for League fans in the east, demand for international League events outside the general calendar remains solid. That said, T1’s popularity certainly would have accounted for extra viewership, so if anything, EWC’s shortcomings are more a reflection of the format and interest in the Saudi event as a whole.
T1, TES, and the rest of the EWC League cohort now return to their respective regional leagues in the lead-up to Worlds 2024.
