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From June 10 to 18, Cambodia hosted the famous MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2023 tournament, which brought together the best players from the region and several invited teams from other countries. This event aroused great interest among fans, attracted a record number of spectators from Cambodia and became the second most popular in the history of this discipline.
MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2023
MLBB Southeast Asia Cup is a series of tournaments organized by Moonton, which was launched in 2017. These tournaments were previously world championships before the advent of the larger M World Championship series.
Currently, MSC is the second most important international championship in the MLBB game. Usually only teams from Southeast Asia participate in the MSC, but in 2023 the organizers have also invited teams from North America, Egypt and Turkey.
A total of 12 teams took part in MSC 2023, competing for a prize pool of US$300,000. Blacklist International from the Philippines and ONIC Esports from Indonesia met in the grand finals. ONIC Esports won with a score of 4:2 and became the champion of the tournament.
This is already the second title for ONIC Esports, as they previously won the MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2019. It is interesting to note that teams from Indonesia have not won the MSC since then – in 2020 the tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and in Filipinos became champions in 2021 and 2022.
Viewership statistics MSC 2023
The MSC 2023 matches attracted a huge number of viewers who spent 40.5 million hours together enjoying the broadcast. The average online viewership during the tournament was 659.4 thousand viewers. Particularly impressive was the online peak, which reached 3.6 million concurrent viewers during the grand final. This is a very impressive achievement.
Construction company ONIC Esports managed to attract the attention of spectators in each of the three most popular matches of the MSC 2023 tournament. Fans clearly showed special interest in this team. ONIC Esports deservedly became the most popular team of the championship, both in terms of the total number of hours watched and the average number of viewers per match. They were 25% ahead of the second finalist, which indicates their significant advantage over other teams.
When we look at the top 5 most popular teams in the tournament, it is noticeable that most of them are represented by teams from Indonesia and the Philippines. It was these teams that were able to attract an impressive audience, exceeding a million viewers on average at each of their matches. This highlights their significant popularity and fan following.
In total, during the MSC 2023 tournament, matches were shown on more than 300 channels, including official broadcasts and streams from community casters. The channels of the regional MPL leagues stand out especially, which took leading positions in terms of viewing hours and peak online.
When it comes to community casters, Emperor and R7, former professional MLBB players from Indonesia, deserve special attention as they have attracted a large audience.
The 2023 MSC tournament also set a record for Cambodian viewership, with the Khmer language broadcast peaking at 130.6 thousand viewers. The previous record for language was set during the M3 World Championship and amounted to 107.7 thousand viewers.
It is interesting to note the changes in the popularity of the Burmese language in the context of MLBB. During the M2 World Championship, the peak online viewership on the Burmese broadcast exceeded one million viewers. However, in 2021, a military coup took place in Myanmar, which greatly affected various industries, including e-sports. There were problems with the Internet and other factors.
As a result, MSC 2021 matches were not covered in Burmese at all, and the M3 World Championship broadcast only attracted a few thousand viewers at its peak. However, the situation stabilized in the summer of 2022 and MLBB tournaments began to attract large audiences in Myanmar again. Although it is still about a fifth or sixth of what it was before the coup. Peak online for the MSC 2023 Burmese broadcast was about the same level as last year’s tournament.
ML:BB Tournaments – Complete list of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang esports competitions
| Tournament | Prize Fund | Hours Viewed | Viewer Peak | Hours on Air | Event Date |
 ML:BB World Championship,Moonton |
$900,000 | 72 160 064 | 5 067 107 | 151h 50m | 23.11.23 – 17.12.23 |
|
$800,000 | 80 128 141 | 4 270 270 | 99h 20m | 01/01/23 – 01/15/23 |
ML:BB,MSC,Moonton |
$300,000 | 40 552 979 | 3 650 305 | 61h 30m | 10.06.23 – 18.06.23 |
ML:BB World Championship,Moonton |
$800,000 | 62 618 822 | 3 191 404 | 103h 55m | 06.12.21 – 19.12.21 |
ML:BB World Championship,Moonton+ 2 |
$300,000 | 42 706 204 | 3 083 245 | 61h 55m | 18.01.21 – 24.01.21 |
ML:BB Professional League,Mineski+ 1 |
$300,000 | 82 768 110 | 2 845 364 | 187h 10m | 02/18/22 – 04/24/22 |
ML:BB,MSC,Mineski+ 1 |
$300,000 | 35 181 779 | 2 800 606 | 73h 45m | 11.06.22 – 19.06.22 |
ML:BB Professional League,Moonton |
$300,000 | 76 945 678 | 2 392 579 | 172h 5m | 13.08.21 – 24.10.21 |
ML:BB Professional League,Mineski+ 1 |
$300,000 | 80 921 722 | 2 384 335 | 183h 40m | 12.08.22 – 23.10.22 |
ML:BB,MSC,Moonton |
$150,000 | 29 461 789 | 2 284 012 | 57h 15m | 07.06.21 – 13.06.21 |
Comparison with other tournaments
The 2023 MLBB Southeast Asia Cup tournament set a new peak online record and became the most watched event in the history of the series, surpassing similar championships held in 2022 and 2021. This demonstrates the growing popularity and attractiveness of competitions in the MLBB world. Spectators showed great interest in the tournament, which underlines its importance and significance in the eyes of the community of players and fans.
Overall, the 2023 MSC tournament had the second-highest online presence in MLBB history. The only competition to beat it was the M4 World Championship, held in January 2023 and attracting 4.2 million viewers.
The next major tournament in the MLBB world will be the M5 World Championship, scheduled for November or December in the Philippines. The organizers have not yet announced the exact dates and location. The M5 World Championship will feature a prize pool of $900,000.
This tournament will feature the introduction of a Wildcard stage for the first time in history, thanks to the addition of new regions to the MLBB tournament system.
The most popular Mobile Legends tournaments: Bang Bang
- M3 World Championship
- M2 World Championship
- MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2021
M3 World Championship
One of the most popular tournaments, which brought together top teams in its ranks, was the M3 World Championship. This event attracted the attention of the maximum number of spectators not in the final match, but in the playoff match between the teams RRQ Hoshi and ONIC PH. At the peak of the broadcast, the number of viewers reached an impressive 3.1 million people, setting a new record for the discipline. It is interesting to note that the final of the tournament was not among the most entertaining matches, since not a single Indonesian team, which is the top region for the number of fans of this game, participated in it.
M2 World Championship
Top 2 in the list of highly rated tournaments was occupied by the M2 World Championship, which took place at the beginning of 2021. It is interesting that this rating featured two tournaments of the same series. The final match between Bren Esports and Burmese Ghouls attracted 3 million viewers at its peak. It is worth noting that this tournament was the last for teams from Myanmar, as the esports scene in this country has been temporarily suspended due to the political instability that is present in the state.
MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2021
MLBB Southeast Asia Cup 2021 was a special tournament that brought together the best teams from Southeast Asia and took a respected fourth place in our top. Particularly impressive was the finalist match between EVOS Esports from Singapore and Execration from the Philippines. This fight attracted an impressive number of viewers – 2.8 million. As a result of the tournament, the Execration team won, but after the MLBB Southeast Asia Cup they decided to disband their roster. Currently, former Execration players continue their careers as part of the Smart Omega team.
In 2021, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang expanded its esports scene with the launch of MPL leagues in Cambodia and Brazil, while Indonesia also set new viewership records. The next MPL season starts in January, and the debut MPL season for the Middle East and North Africa is scheduled for February 7th.