The LCS is constantly being called a Wild Card region — so much even that it's become a meme. LEC pros play there when they want to rake in one last pay check before retiring. Now, the region is even showing signs of weakness in their viewership numbers.
100 Thieves delivered a crackling win over Team Liquid in the LCS finals — especially their jungler Closer, who gave an insane performance and was even named EarlyGame's player of the month! The sad truth, though? It seems like hardly anyone even cares anymore.
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Low Viewership Records for the LCS
The LEC seems to fluctuate between 840,000 and 1,000,000 viewers over the last 3 years. In comparison, the LCS finals in which 100 Thieves took on Team Liquid and won 3 -1 merely reached a mere364,328 people at its peak.
Compare that to the previous year, when 545,571 viewers tuned in. That is a drop of over 33%! All numbers named are provided by escharts.com.
- More into the LEC? Well, then you probably already know that the MAD Lions are your LEC Summer Split champions.
Looking at the high viewership numbers of both the LEC and LCS in 2020, we have to take into account that COVID-19 caused many to stay home during lockdown. People were home a lot more and probably bored. With nothing else to watch – with traditional sports also being on standby – people tuned in to watch esports. This year, the lockdown restrictions weren't as strict, hence, why people might not have watched as much either.
Also, over the last year, many notable LCS players have retired and no real NA talent has been able to replace the likes of Bjergsen, Sneaky and Doublelift in terms of personality, which could also create distance between the fans and the league.
Most popular matches of #LCS Summer '21:#1 @100Thieves vs @TeamLiquid#2 @Cloud9 vs @TSM#3 @Cloud9 vs @100Thieves#4 @Cloud9 vs @TeamLiquid#5 @FlyQuest vs @EvilGeniuses *stats incl. co-streamsMore statisticshttps://t.co/Hmolvrafiq@LCSOfficial @lolesports pic.twitter.com/ZX1ozhV1lN
— Esports Charts (@EsportsCharts) August 29, 2021
LCK Viewership Shot Up
The LCK Summer Split peaked at 1.3 million viewers. Everyone wanted to watch Faker and T1 take on DWG KIA. This game showed that League of Legends continues to grow in Korea, and interest in Korean esports continues to rise as well. It seems that Korea might catch up to China once more in esports — especially with the new laws restricting young players from gaming, which seems to be in consideration in China.
The hype around the LCK is also thanks to Faker, who is basically everyone's favorite mid laner and idol when it comes to League of Legends. He and T1 will be going to Worlds again. Everyone wants to see him play and bring out his A game. Unfortunately, T1 and Faker couldn't take down DWG KIA who took the series 3 - 1. So it's back to the drawing board before the start of the 2021 World Championshipfor Fakerand co.
1.3M Peak Viewers on LCK 2021 Summer. @DWGKIA vs @T1LoL is the most popular match of the event. #LCK @LCK_Global Detailed stats:https://t.co/4xoTWPnusV pic.twitter.com/sxAPlS5rHE
— Esports Charts (@EsportsCharts) August 28, 2021
Why do you guys think that the LCS viewership is falling rapidly? Let us know on Twitter and Facebook! If you want to discuss more LCS, LEC, LPL and LCK action join our Discord as well!
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