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Popular content creator and influencer, Setsuna “Akosi Dogie” Ignacio shared his thoughts about the declining viewership of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) Professional League Philippines (MPL PH). He debunked some of the community theories and claimed that the declining viewership may be due to the lack of interesting rivalries between teams which may have not piqued the fans’ interest this season. Akosi Dogie also explained that the global pandemic also bolstered the popularity of MLBB esports in the Philippines. However, with the country slowly returning to normalcy and more people going back to their usual routine of doing outdoor activities, the viewership of the MPL PH has decreased.
Why MPL PH has a declining viewership?
Through a recent vlog, Akosi Dogie explained what he thinks is the reason for the lackluster viewership that the league is getting during the MPL PH Season 11 regular season live streams.
“A lot of people are saying, ‘There’s no trashtalking.’ Basically, it’s not [the lack of] trashtalking that lowered the viewership. Other people say, ‘The [Blacklist] Agents are toxic,’ it’s not because of that,” he explained.
He further added that “trashtalking is only 1%,” of the issue and that it’s only to hype up the fans. Looking back to the previous seasons, Akosi Dogie stated that the lack of interesting rivalries may be one of the reasons for the lack of viewership in recent MPL PH livestreams.
“When I say ‘rivalry,’ it’s the two rival teams that people will actually be interested in watching, that’s something we don’t have in the Philippines,” he said.
The MPL PH Hall of Legends inductee listed the most iconic rivalries from Season 1 up to Season 10.
“Like in Season 1, we have Aether vs. OBS, then Season 2 Aether vs. OBS, then Season 3 Aether vs. No Limit, then Season 4 ONIC vs. No Limit [Sunsparks], Season 6 is Nexplay vs. Execration, Season 7 Nexplay vs. Execration, Season 8 Nexplay vs. Omega, then we also have Blacklist, Season 9 Smart Omega vs. Blacklist, Season 10 Smart Omega vs Blacklist, there’s RSG too [in that Season], this Season 11, nothing,” stated Akosi Dogie.
While the lack of notable rivalries may be one of the reasons for the decline in viewership, Dogie believes this is not entirely the reason for the MPL PH Season 11 having lesser views than previous seasons.
“Those rivalries, they are just 5% of the viewer base. Fanbase, it takes only 5%,” explained Akosi Dogie.
Thinking back on the major events that transpired in the previous years, the iconic MLBB streamer explained that it may be due to the return to normalcy after the global pandemic.
“So, 89% due to the pandemic, [people] were interested in esports. So now there is no pandemic, everyone has their own lives, people have decided that after two years of the pandemic, they want to go outside,” he explained.
According to Akosi Dogie, the MPL PH esports scene is not the only league or region that was affected by the end of the global pandemic.
“I talked to a lot of org[anizations] from NA to EU, I asked them ‘What happened there?’ they answered that the esports scene is a bit dull after the pandemic,” he stated.
However, this decline in viewership is nothing to be afraid of. According to Akosi Dogie, the esports scene is just returning to its normal state before the pandemic hit.
“How do we bring back the viewership before? That’s the biggest question. Because, it really fell off. If you compare [the views] during pandemic time, it really fell off. Pero if you compare it before the pandemic, it just returned to normal,” he said.
He ended his statement by saying, “It’s not that ML is dying,” the views just went back to their usual numbers after the pandemic which explains the decline in viewership for the MPL PH Season 11 regular season.
Back in Season 10, the league amassed a total of 829, 312 peak views during the grand finals match between Blacklist International and ECHO, according to the date provided by Esports Charts. It will be interesting to see if the MPL PH Season 11 reaches the same view count in the playoffs stage.
