Who has better viewership?
LCS vs. LEC | Viewership Battle
The 2022 Spring Splits have come to an end in all regions and we're gearing up for the second biggest esports event of the year. The 2022 Mid-Season Invitational will take place in Busan, South Korea, but before we get hyped for the action, let's check out the viewership numbers of the biggest regions in the world.
The LCS did everything possible this year to boost ratings, especially during finals with co-streams, inviting famous streamers and hosting the event at a huge arena in Houston, Texas, but did it help bolster viewership for the region?
LCK Is the Most Viewed Region
The most viewed game – without counting Chinese viewers – according to esports charts was the 2022 Spring Split Final of the LCK and the leagues 10-year anniversary. 1,374,155 people tuned in to watch Faker lift the LCK trophy once more against Gen.G.
No other region had these types of viewership numbers, but with T1 going 18-0 in the regular split, something no other LCK team has been able to do before, everyone was excited to watch them go up against the second-best team in the region.
Not only was the LCK finals the most viewed, but multiple other regular split and playoff games in the LCK had higher viewership than the LEC and LCS Spring Split finals.
LEC vs. LCS Who Had More Views?
The LEC is the clear winner in the viewership battle. This was obvious even early on in the Spring Split, when the LCS was even struggling to match viewership numbers with the Brazilian CBLoL.
While the LEC did not have the same production value that the LCS had for their 2022 Spring Split finals and the league had to settle with a small final in their Berlin-based LEC studios in front of a humble crowd, they still managed to out-do the LCS in viewership.
According to esports charts, the LCS accumulated 387,072 peak viewers during the final between 100 Thieves and Evil Genius. Compare that to the peak viewership of the LEC, who managed to get 723,061 viewers.
[Update September 13, 2022]
The unimpressive results of viewers from the LCS also continued for Summer 2022 regular season, where they had the lowest number of average viewers of all the major regions and even struggling to compete against smaller regions like CBLOL.
With Summer Split 2022 coming to an end, we have new viewer numbers for the season for both LEC and LCS and this split, both regions have fallen short.
For the last few years, the LEC has been thriving, having their peak back in Spring 2021. Now, in 2022 Summer split, LEC just had their lowest average viewers since 2019 with an average of 211.k viewers. LEC reached their peak viewership during the LEC Summer finals 2022 for the G2 Esports vs. Rogue series, with 732.k viewers.
Even though this looks bad for the LEC, the LCS numbers are even more worrying this split. The LCS also reached their peak viewership during the LCS Finals this summer split with 370.2 k viewers. Their average viewers were nearly half of the LEC with 115.5 k average viewers.
Top 5 Champions Who Need an Update (After Udyr)
Another reason to the loss of viewership, could be Riot's other competitive game, Valorant. During LEC finals this year, Valorant Champions was running at the same time. This leads to fans interested in both esports scenes having to sacrifice one of the competitions for the other.
[Original Article]
What can the LCS do to try and bolster their viewership once more, or is the region doomed to lag behind the LEC for the rest of its existence?