LCS viewership plunges again in 2024’s first week but there’s a good reason why

The first week of the LCS 2024 Spring Split has come and gone and while the changes to the league’s format and a move back to the weekend timeslot have delighted League of Legends fans, average viewership continues to tumble.

The North American League series kicked off on Jan. 20 with an LCS Summer Championship rematch between Cloud9 and NRG, and early signs looked fantastic for the season’s launch after 191,540 tuned in to see C9 claim the win, according to stats site Esports Charts. However, a later Esports Charts report this week suggests this and other week one peaks were considered “somewhat accidental” due in part to Brazilian streamer Gustavo “Baiano” Gomes.

The report states Baiano, who now streams matches from across both his home region in the CBLOL and the LCS, made the switch after CBLOL matches wrapped up in the morning. At the time of the switch, Baiano had over 63,000 live viewers tuning in for the first game of the day—Cloud9 versus 100 Thieves—but just a third of that number remained by the end. As a result, the matches’ peak concurrent count was given a sizeable boost from Baiano’s viewership who have, expectedly, shown less interest in the LCS compared to their home region.

Even counting for this additional “lag,” 2024’s opening week failed to match last year’s edition of the Spring Split for average viewership, with this week’s 116,160 a nine percent drop compared to Spring 2023. Peaks are far higher than Summer 2023, which took place mid-week and began after a hefty delay due to the LCSPA walkout, but trends continue to fall for the LCS—something that was predicted back in November.

Total viewer hours were down significantly, too; however, this was expected given each matchday has one fewer series after the LCS dropped to eight teams in the off-season. Nevertheless, while other major regions like the LEC are breaking records or remaining stable, the LCS drops are consistent.

We’ll need a little more data to see the trend in full, but it’s another worrying sign for the NA domestic league that desperately needs and deserves a win.