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Monday’s opening match of the League of Legends World Championship group stage between DWG KIA and FunPlus Phoenix drew peak viewership of 1.6 million, according to Esports Charts, as Worlds 2021 began with a battle between two of the game’s best squads.

 

Viewership for the opening match at Worlds 2021 is higher than the opening match last year between Top Esports and FlyQuest, which only had 1.2 million concurrent viewers. However, viewership is lower than the most viewed matches from the first day of the group stage last year. According to Mobalytics, the first match between the LPL and the LCK , LGD Gaming vs Gen.G, was the most-viewed match from Day 1 of the group stage last year. That match attracted a peak viewership of a little over 1.8 million viewers.

The Worlds 2021 group stage opener viewership is just slightly behind the peak viewership seed at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational. The grand finals between DK and Royal Never Give Up drew nearly 1.84 million peak viewers, according to Esports Charts. However, the Worlds 2021 group stage opener did draw more viewers than the second most viewed match at MSI. That was the semi-finals match between DK and the League of Legend European Championship reps MAD Lions. That match drew just under 1.5 million in peak viewership.

However, viewership might be even higher later in the day when teams like Fnatic and T1 play. T1 in particular are a huge draw. Esports Charts has the team as the most popular squad by a wide margin when it comes to hours watched throughout the League of Legends summer splits. Their viewership is almost double of the second-place team, DK.

 

Esports Charts tracks viewership from eight different platforms but a wide majority of the viewership comes from Twitch and YouTube.

Monday’s match, which DWG KIA won handily, might wind up being a Worlds 2021 final preview. DK, the first seed from League Champions Korea, are the reigning world champions, and their star player, Heo “ShowMaker” Su, was the main character in the Worlds 2021 music video. Their opponent was the Worlds 2019 champions and the League of Legends Pro League second-seed FPX, with Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang in the midst of his best season ever.