LEC continues to dominate LCS with double the viewership numbers heading into playoffs

The competitive League of Legends ecosystems in North America and Europe have undergone many different changes over the last few months, especially with updates to scheduling and format shaking up how supporters experience the competitions. After three months, the LEC has continued to rise over the LCS by doubling their average viewership numbers heading into this April.

The 2023 LCS Spring Split just finished its first round of playoff matchups, and currently has an average viewership of about 103,000 people since the start of the split, according to Esports Charts. These are decent numbers, but it isn’t even close to the LEC’s impressive average viewership count of almost 208,000 supporters, without even including the first round of the postseason.

When the LEC announced its new format, some skeptics were hesitant to believe that the changes would bode well for the success of the league. Viewership averages have dipped when compared to the 2023 Winter Split, but the competition remains fierce within the region since teams can face elimination through the first three weeks of the season.

As a result, fans are more inclined to tune in and watch, since a majority of these games have group stage implications for their favorite teams and superstars. In the LCS, on the other hand, the league is still running with an eight-week split, along with a new schedule that places game days on Thursdays and Fridays.

When compared to previous LCS seasons, the average viewership hasn’t dropped by a significant margin. But with eight weeks of play, fans are given a bigger window to skip a couple of weeks, or skip a majority of a match day just to watch their favorite teams compete, since some of the early games might not hold as much weight as matches later in the split.

It’ll be interesting to see how the LCS fares in the postseason, especially with fan favorites like Counter Logic Gaming and 100 Thieves having dropped out of the competition early. Meanwhile, the LEC will be raging forward with teams colliding in best-of-three action when the group stage begins on Saturday, April 8.