VCT Masters Tokyo recorded the second-lowest viewership

The VCT Masters Tokyo had the second-lowest audience figures of any international VCT event, failing to reach the million-peak viewer mark.

The second international Valorant competition of the year VCT Masters Tokyo has come to a close with the European juggernauts Fnatic being crowned champions. Despite VCT Masters Tokyo being the first event of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, the event had severely dwarfed peak and average viewership compared to previous events.

According to Esports Chart, the Grand Final match between EMEA titans Fnatic and North American powerhouse EG garnered over 830 369 peak viewers, making it the most-watched game of the competition. This is around 612,301 viewers shy of the peak viewers from the VCT LOCK//IN Sào Paulo event. The lower bracket final between Paper Rex and EG is ranked second on the list with more than 596,000 peak viewers, and LOUD vs. EDward Gaming is ranked third with 587 081 peak viewers.

VCT Masters Tokyo failed to hit the one million viewership mark

VCT 2021 Masters Berlin had a peak viewership of 811,370 viewers, while VCT 2022 Masters Copenhagen had a peak viewership of 783,985, making Master Tokyo the third international Valorant LAN that failed to reach 1 million concurrent viewers.  It also had by far the second-lowest average viewers in the game’s history at 338,447, which is disappointing when compared to the Sào Paulo event, which accumulated an impressive 432,597 average viewers.

830K Peak Viewers on #VCTMastersTokyo Grand Finals@FNATIC vs @EvilGeniuses @Twitch peak – 588K@YouTubeGaming peak – 242K

English peak – 391K
Japanese peak – 195K
Spanish peak – 62K#VCT #VCT2023 @ValorantEsports pic.twitter.com/84MAr7BbT7

— Esports Charts 🇺🇦 (@EsportsCharts) June 25, 2023

 

The drop in viewership was expected for the event in Tokyo since the time zone made it difficult for North American and European fans to watch the matches. All the matches at the Master took place in front of a live audience, so the matches were scheduled accordingly to facilitate the Japanese audience. The lower bracket final and championship match were both set for 10 p.m. CT, while most of the matches were played at an inappropriate hour for US viewers.

Moreover, Esports Charts do not represent the viewership of China, which is another reason the overall viewership of the Masters Tokyo appears lower than expected. There is heightened interest in the event in China as a result of Edward Gaming’s unexpected run. The squad defeated NAVI and T1 in the Group Stage to secure a spot in the double-elimination playoffs. There, they defeated the South American favorite LOUD Gaming before losing to PRX 0-2 and getting ousted from the competition.

Header: Riot Games