We’re approaching the end of the first half of the season for many leagues in competitive League of Legends, with teams fighting hard to get a slot for the Mid-Season Invitational, which will take place in London during May.
While most regions are entering playoffs soon, the LEC will have to first go through the Groups stage, following the introduction of the new 2023 tournament format. With all teams still having a chance to get into the top eight, fans are following the games more and more closely, breaking the viewership record for the concurrent 2023 season.
According to the stats site Esports Charts, the series between Fnatic and KOI became the most-watched game of the entire LEC 2023 Spring Split, peaking at 350,834 viewers. The previous record was registered in week one, in the series between MAD and KOI (348,174 peak viewers).
Despite both teams fighting in the bottom half of the standings, the two were able to put up a show with an average of 281,800 average viewers. Fnatic surprisingly prevailed over KOI, earning themselves the second victory of the split as they are looking to bounce back from the disastrous LEC Winter Split performance.
Such results were achieved thanks to the involvement of KOI’s large League community and KOI’s co-owner and famous personality Ibai “Ibai” Llanos Garatea, as well as the possibility for them to co-stream the team’s LEC matches. KOI also scored the highest viewership in the LEC Winter regular split, with a peak number of 475,123, according to Esports Charts.
On the other hand, fans are trying to follow Fnatic’s run this split after making roster and coaching staff adjustments between the two splits. With two wins on the scoreboard, Fnatic still have a good chance of making it into the top eight. That being said, they will have a tough schedule ahead of them, having to face MAD Lions, G2 Esports, and Astralis.
Related: Wunder breaks down why he lost his place on Fnatic’s LoL lineup
With all teams still competing for Groups, and all at most two victories from each other, we’re bound to see viewership numbers break new records in the upcoming week three of the LEC Spring Split, which will begin on March 25 with the series between Astralis and Team Heretics.
