LCS maintains viewership in 2023 Spring Split despite schedule and broadcast changes

Over the course of the last couple of months, the North American League of Legends scene has evolved into a much-improved product, with multiple new players, plenty of new content, and its major tournament changing broadcast days from the weekend to the weekdays.

Supporters were worried about how these drastic scheduling changes would impact viewership, especially because some fans wouldn’t be able to arrive home in time to watch the opening matches. But after seven weeks, the average viewership for the 2023 LCS Spring Split is currently hovering around 101,000 people, according to Esports Charts.

This number is about 14,000 viewers less than the 2022 Summer Split average of about 115,000, which isn’t as drastic a drop as what many people were forecasting. Additionally, the 2023 Spring Split peak viewership is currently sitting at 178,000 people from the first day of the split with Cloud9’s match against 100 Thieves. A majority of games in the top five for viewership actually all came from the first day of the season, except for Team Liquid’s game against 100 Thieves in the third week of the split.

Those numbers were mostly driven by the excitement of new rosters and league additions, like the LCS debut of FlyQuest’s superstar AD carry Prince, the introduction of Liquid’s all-star cast, or the return of legends like 100 Thieves’ AD carry Doublelift. Even still, these are pretty impressive stats for a league that was forecasted to drop to new lows.

Related: Here’s how 100 Thieves can qualify for the 2023 LCS Spring Split playoffs

Although these numbers are relatively impressive, the LCS still isn’t able to hold a candle to its sister league in Europe. Thanks to the raving fan bases from a handful of different regions, the 2023 LEC Spring Split has already hit a peak of 348,000 viewers during MAD Lions’ week one match against KOI, according to Esports Charts. In fact, every game in the LEC’s top five has crested the 290,000 mark.

The LCS, on the other hand, should keep a close eye on its numbers heading into the playoffs, which are scheduled to begin on Thursday, March 23. Most leagues see significant increases in peak viewership once the postseason begins since more fans are incentivized to watch high-stakes League compared to regular season content.