We’re approaching the midway mark for a lot of leagues in aggressive League of Legends, and as standard, North American and European followers are on the point of rekindle the rivalry between the 2 areas. Unfortunately for LCS followers, when it comes to general viewership, the LEC has them beat by greater than double by the primary 4 weeks of play.
The 2023 LEC Winter Split at present has a median concurrent viewership variety of simply over 288,000 folks, with a peak of about 486,000 viewers throughout the second week of the common season, in response to esports stream stats combination Esports Charts.
This fully overshadows the LCS, which solely has a common concurrent viewership of about 109,000 spectators, with its peak viewership rely solely reaching 178,000. This disparity could be stunning for some, however for others, it isn’t as shocking because it might sound due to the varied adjustments which have occurred to each leagues.
Related: Why different LoL esports areas ought to take into account adopting the LEC’s new season format
In Europe, for instance, the LEC is flourishing after a collection of sweeping adjustments to the league’s normal format, together with a brand new Winter Split that has a three-week common season, a bunch stage, and a four-team playoff bracket. Since groups could be eradicated from championship competition by the primary three weeks of play, each recreation issues and every week is a must-watch for supporters.
It additionally helps that one of many fastest-rising esports organizations joined the league this 12 months, with KOI bringing over an entire military of recent followers and viewers who’ve taken over the charts with ease. In reality, 4 of the highest 5 most-viewed video games of the season up to now have featured the Spanish squad and all crested over 450,000 viewers every.
Meanwhile, the LCS continues to be adjusting to its new broadcast days on Thursday and Friday. The league begins at 4pm CT, which is a comparatively inconvenient time for some viewers in Western NA, together with EU followers trying to tune in. Although the extent of competitors has arguably improved, it’ll be robust for the LCS to rival the LEC in the mean time when it comes to viewership.
