I want to start with what is working, because we believe the impending decline of esports has been exaggerated. Our community is more active than ever around sports. The 2023 season and the start of 2024 were milestones that give us immense confidence in the future. Our viewership for the 2023 Global Events was incredible, thanks to the new Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and Worlds formats. This combined with greater integration of co-streaming to drive relative growth of 58% and 65% over last year in average audience per minute (AMM). In total, regional LoL esports leagues also saw a 16% increase in their AMM in 2023 compared to the previous year. LoL Esports was the star of the show at the 19th Asian Games, where the Korean team won the gold medal.
In 2024, we launched with a record audience, and we can’t wait to launch our Hall of Fame and showcase the best competition that LoL Esports has to offer at MSI Chengdu in Europe and LoL Esports at Worlds, with the finals at the legendary O2 Arena in London.
But despite all the records in 2023, this industry has faced many problems, and we have suffered as much as others. Significantly, in January, we took the difficult decision to cut our payroll by 11%. This reduction affects all Riot services, including esports, and we’re adapting to be able to bring you the esports you know and love, which will impact the entire ecosystem.
Many of the changes I introduced last year are now true. Both leagues and teams rely heavily on sponsors to generate revenue. All sponsorship activity in the industry has slowed amid the post-Covid global economy and some team organizations are struggling to stay viable.
But in recent months, we’ve had the pleasure of seeing the economy recover and sponsors return to our ecosystem. We’ve seen Progressive, Coinbase, and Honda, among others, sponsor LoL Esports team organizations. In early 2024, we welcomed HP Omen and new partners like HyperX, Uber, AT&T, Pagoda and Heineken into our shared ecosystem. Equally important, we have recently extended and extended agreements with some of the most important partner brands in our portfolio: Kia (from 2019), MasterCard (from 2018), Mercedes-Benz (from 2020) and Red Bull (from 2019). We are impressed with the growing number of regional and global partners. They share our deep passion for gaming and sports and enhance the esports experience every season.
In addition to sponsorship, we are committed to creating other meaningful revenue streams. In-game digital sales represent the most measurable source of real-world revenue generation (see below). We still believe that the strongest way forward for esports is to monetize it more like gaming and share the revenue generated with our partner teams.
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