What happens to the LCS audience?

The LCS is embroiled in rumors claiming that many teams want to sell their place in the league. These rumors have not been confirmed; however, things are not going well for the LCS.

Viewership figures for North America’s premier LoL tournament have reportedly declined. According to data released by Esports Charts, peak, and average viewership figures are well below those of previous tournaments.

How are the LCS viewership numbers?

According to the data published by Esports Charts, this tournament has very low numbers compared to previous tournaments. For this Split, the general average has been 109,000 spectators; however, the maximum peak during this Split was during the final, as in all the Splits held by the LCS. This time it reached a maximum of 271,000 viewers.

However, determining the strength of a tournament by the maximum peaks of spectators does not give us a real metric of its impact on the fans. So to determine the impact of a tournament, we measure it by viewing hours, which for this Split was more than 14 million hours.

Comparing this data with previous years shows that this Split was much lower in viewing hours than the 2022 Summer Split. During the previous Summer Split, viewing hours were 19 million hours.

However, we must consider that they broadcast 30 hours less this year. But if we have the pace they had last year, this Split was expected to exceed 15 million viewing hours.

LCS audience has not surpassed the audience achieved during 2020

In 2020 the LCS reached an average viewership of 200,000; however, the average has been close to 100,000 viewers in the following two years.

On the other hand, 2020 saw the highest number of viewing hours for the LCS at 33 million. However, after the 2020 summer season, the numbers started to decline.

For this spring season, it was believed that the numbers would drop too much due to the format change. However, it was not as bad as many thought.

However, having the LCS broadcasts on Thursdays and Fridays did cause the numbers to drop by approximately 5,000 fewer viewers.

Despite this drop in viewership, the viewership numbers are still very good for the LCS. These numbers are expected to increase with the new format and new teams coming into the league in the Summer Split.

The Summer Split is scheduled to begin in June, when broadcasts will resume across the United States, and all LoL fans will be able to watch their favorite teams again.

Header: LCS