Esports Charts: VCT EMEA, Pacific get boost from community casting

VALORANT’s pro tourneys in the EMEA and Pacific regions are having a boost thanks to community rebroadcasts or streams, according to data from esports statistics and insights provider, Esports Charts.

In a report published on their website last March 8th, Esports Charts noted that VALORANT developer Riot Games’ thrust to allow community influencers to restream the official broadcasts.

“Riot Games’ successful policy of letting content creators — be they prominent or less-heard of names — stream the live broadcasts of matches at the same time as its own channels has even led to these influencers registering higher audience figures than official handles,” Esports Charts noted.

Over 70% of the VCT EMEA and VCT Pacific Kickoff viewership was boosted by community casting, with VCT Pacific gaining a 77.5% boost, and VCT EMEA with a 70% boost.

Among the top channels that Esports Charts noted by Kickoff Pacific were Twitch streamers im_mittiii, kato_junichi0817, hanjoudesu, and 발로란트 챔피언스 투어.
Kato_junichi0817 was able to outperform even VALORANT official channels in terms of views,. Esports Charts noted.

They also noted that the entry of Jacob “yay” Whitaker to BLEED Esports, as well as Wang Jing “Jinggg” Yie’s coverage of the games have helped the Pacific region gain its share of English language viewers.

“The entry of Yay — a fan favorite among North American followers of the game — and Jingggxd’s regular coverage of the games ensured a much larger English-speaking crowd was drawn toward proceedings,” Esports Charts noted.

Meanwhile, the VCT EMEA Kickoff tournament, where co-broadcasters claimed a little over 70% of the tournament’s overall watch time.

“This was a rise of over 16% from the 2023 competition, with the online presence of prominent co-streamers being a large reason for this improvement,” Esports Charts noted.

Gentle Mates’ co-owner Squeezie was the most-popular overall co-broadcaster of VCT EMEA, alongside Kamet0 from Karmine Corp and Ibai, who is from KOI.

Esports Charts also noted that their figures are based on trends prevalent in both EMEA and the Pacific.

“While Japanese fans are integral to how well events in the Pacific region do, the European and Middle Eastern segment relies heavily on celebrity streamers who also own prominent esports organizations. The performances of these clubs dictate how many viewers watch a particular game, and if they reach the latter stages of any tournament, it usually means the figures will turn out to be solid,” the statistics provider stated.

Esports Charts also added, “Valorant’s competitive scene has continued to rise on an almost monthly basis. After a highly successful 2023, the current season has gotten off to a good start, and with a modified roadmap that includes lots more events for fans to latch on to, readers could see more records broken along the way. What they can be sure of is that community casting will make its presence felt at any tournament that does notch large viewership figures.”