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According to data provided by EsportsCharts, the recent semi-final match between G2 Esports and SK Telecom T1 broke several viewership records. The previous record for concurrent viewership of an esport event had been set by the Fortnite World Cup earlier this year. A peak of 2.3 million concurrent viewers, excluding China, allowed Epic Games to hold this record for several months.

The record got obliterated

The League of Legends semifinal match broke the all-time highest concurrent viewer record four times in the span of several hours. Game 1 peaked at 2.78 million viewers, already crushing the previous record. However, this was only the start. After the first game, game 2 broke the record again at 3.2 million concurrent spectators. Game 3, which was arguably the most exciting match of the series, peaked at 3.5 million concurrents.

Game 4, the last game of the series between SK Telecom T1 and G2 Esports, however, set a record that is unlikely to be broken anytime soon. The record set by this match, excluding China’s viewership, was almost 4 million concurrent viewers across the two major platforms, YouTube and Twitch.

Why the League of Legends world finals won’t break this record again

While there have been a lot of predictions made by various people in the esports scene, it is highly unlikely that the record will be broken again next week. The reason for this is the number of viewers who tuned in from Korea to see SKT play for their spot in the 2019 League of Legends worlds finals. According to EsportsCharts, over a million viewers of the series were located in Korea alone during each of the games. Now that SKT will no longer be competing, we can expect to see this number reduced for the world finals.

However, it is important to note that other records will be able to be broken. While the official numbers are often a bit questionable, there is a good chance that the global viewership record will be destroyed next weekend. China’s number 1 seed is competing in the world finals against the team with probably the most Chinese fans for any western team to date.

The 2019 League of Legends World Championship finals start Nov. 10, 1 p.m. CEST / 7 a.m. EST. The stream for the World Finals will be available on the watch page of League of Legends. For more League of Legends news, be sure to check out our recap of the 2019 League of Legends semifinals.