(Yicai Global) Dec. 4 -- Animation and game video sharing website Bilibili has secured the exclusive live-streaming rights in China for the hugely popular e-sports tournament League of Legends World Championship Finals, beating off stiff competition.

In the first auction for exclusive e-sports broadcasting rights in China, operator Shanghai Hode Information Technology paid CNY800 million (USD113.2 million) to stream the finals over the next three years, the Beijing News reported today.  It outbid rivals Kuaishou, Douyu and Huya.

The tournament's large following is likely to boost Bilibili's profile. The current world champions are Chinese team FunPlus Phoenix who defeated Europe's G2 Esports in a riveting final held in Paris on Nov. 10, drawing much netizen interest in China.

Last year's finals were watched by a record 99.6 million people. The average number of viewers per minute was 19.6 million and the peak concurrent, or the highest number of simultaneous viewers, was 44 million, according to Riot Games' figures.

The LOL World Championship is the professional version of the highly-popular multi-player real-time combat game. Developed by Los Angeles-based Riot Games, the annual tournament sees teams from around the world compete for prize winnings of USD1 million.

The 10th LOL World Championship Finals will kick off next year in Shanghai.