Chinese video sharing and streaming website Bilibili, also owners of LPL team Bilibili Gaming and Overwatch League's Hangzhou Spark, has acquired exclusive broadcasting rights for the upcoming three League of Legends World Championships. According to a report by The Beijing news, Bilibili paid ¥800 million RMB, roughly $113 million USD, to be the only Chinese platform to broadcast the action in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

The same report reads that this is the first bidding war of its kind, being about an esports tournament. With the 2020 World Championship being held in China, Shanghaid to be precise, it's no surprise that the broadcasting rights were heavily contested. Other Chinese streaming platforms like Huya, Kuaishou and Douyu also were fishing for an exclusivity deal. It's worth noting that, while Bilibili has won the bidding war, industry experts are skeptical about the price paid—it's likely Bilibili will be losing money off this deal, given the revenue that's predicted to be made from the deal.

Exclusive broadcasting deals have occurred before with non-Chinese streaming platforms. Facebook once signed a deal with ESL to exclusively host the ESL Pro League and ESL One competitions, though that deal was continued later on a non-exclusivity basis.