2022 was a year filled with esports tournaments and events. With the top esports teams clashing against each other week in week out, it’s no secret they’ve racked in millions of hours of watch time. With that in mind, a question naturally arises- who was the most watched esports team of 2022? It was none other than the Korean powerhouse, T1! Today we’ll be finding out more about how they achieved that.
About T1
T1 (formerly known as SK Telecom T1 or SKT T1) is a South Korean professional esports organization that was founded in 2004. T1 is known for its successful teams and players in a variety of esports titles, including League of Legends, Overwatch, and Fortnite. The Korean team has won numerous championship titles in major esports tournaments, such as the League of Legends World Championship and the Overwatch League. The organization has also produced some of the most well-known and respected players in the worldwide esports scene. Of course, the first name to come to mind is Faker, who is considered one of the best League of Legends players of all time. T1 has a strong presence in the competitive gaming community and fans consider them as one of the top esports organizations in the world.
The Year In Review for T1
Esports Charts recently published a rank of the most watched esports teams of 2022. T1 tops the list with a total watch time of 112.93 million hours. While that surely is a huge number, it shouldn’t come as a surprise for their fans. T1 has had a phenomenal year in 2022 as they continue to dominate the scene of League of Legends. With Faker still leading from the front, there were few that could give T1 a run for their money.
An undefeated run at the LCK Spring 2022 set the standard for the South Koreans for the rest of the year. Their 10th domestic title provided them unparalleled confidence. At the MSI 2022, T1 continued their hot winning streak. Their streak did come to an end soon though after conceding a defeat to European giants, G2 Esports. T1 did become the runners-up of the tournament though, losing the finals to Asian rivals, Royal Never Give Up. It was now time for LCK Summer 2022 and fans had hoped their team replicated their previous levels of performance. Unfortunately, that really didn’t happen. T1 faced defeats quite a few times throughout the entire tournament. Despite their rather scrappy performance, T1 still managed to appear at the grand finals. Their opponent was Gen. G who put up an impressive show throughout the Summer split. T1 succumbed to defeat failing to respond to Gen. G’s intense tactics. It was another second place finish, one that fans couldn’t complain much about.
Three-time Worlds champions now showed up to the Championship to make it four. They dominated the group stage only conceding a single defeat. T1 faced back to back Asian rivals, RNG and JDG in the quarter and semifinals. Both fell prey to T1’s dominance as Faker and co. proceeded to the finals. The stage was now set for T1 vs. DRX. Fans were treated to one of the best finals in the history of League of Legends. It took all five rounds to crown a winner and it was DRX that lifted their first Worlds Championship.
Becoming The Most Watched Team of 2022
There’s quite a few reasons how T1 turned out to be the most watched esports team of 2022. Here’s a few:
- League of Legends had the highest peak viewership this year with 615m hours watched in total. With T1 playing all the matches of the top League of Legends tournaments this year, it’s no surprise they racked in so many hours of viewership.
- Who wouldn’t want to watch Faker play? Even in 2022, Faker is playing the game like he owns it. He was joined by one of the finest young talents of the year that is Zeus. Fans poured in to watch the two play and create magic together.
- The growing popularity of LCK also had quite the role to play. With an airtime of over 300 hours, viewers watched 74m hours of the LCK this year alone.
How about the other teams?
With T1 taking the top spot, it was Mobile Legends: Bang Bang team, RRQ Hoshi that took the second spot. In 2022, matches with its participation generated 88.2m hours watched which is 30% more than last year. Third on the list was none other than Natus Vincere which is the first CS:GO team to be featured on the list.
⚡ Most watched esports teams in 2022:
🥇 @T1LoL
🥈 @teamrrqofficial
🥉 @natusvincere
4️⃣ @DRXGlobal
5️⃣ @FaZeClan
6️⃣ @onic_esports
7️⃣ @GenG
8️⃣ Evos Legends
9️⃣ @G2esports
🔟 @DWGKIADetailed results of 2022:https://t.co/t01tQv8lb0 pic.twitter.com/DcvmNGtxLt
— Esports Charts 🇺🇦 (@EsportsCharts) December 27, 2022
The next four spots on the list were taken by new entrants DRX, FaZe Clan, ONIC and Gen. G. EVOS is another MLBB team to be featured on the list with G2 and DWG featuring next. DWG dropped 9 spots in the list than before.
Well, there you have the most watched esports team of 2022. It’s yet another W for T1 and their fans are surely ending the year on a high!