While their place in the competitive VALORANT ecosystem is currently in question, the Americas region must be acknowledged as it is still retaining its spot at the head of the table when it comes to viewership.
Both the EMEA and Pacific VCT leagues have completed their first week of play, but each of them fell just short of cracking the 300K mark in peak viewership, according to data from Esports Charts. EMEA reached 288K viewers in two separate matches, via both BBL Esports matches versus Karmine Corp and Fnatic. Pacific only cracked 228K viewers in week one, but was able to reach 269K in week two when ZETA DIVISION took on Rex Regum Qeon.
But so far, both league pale in comparison to peak viewership in Americas, which rocketed past the 400K peak viewership during the marathon “clout bout” between 100 Thieves and Sentinels. As always, co-streaming provided a huge boost to the opening match, namely via Tarik’s on-site stream featuring 100 Thieves founder Nadeshot. According to SullyGnome, his co-stream alone reached a peak of at least 121K viewers and nicely averaged just shy of 69K.
While it didn’t reach the heights of Sentinels vs. 100T, the second match of VCT Americas opening day, pitting FURIA against KRÃœ, reached a peak of 257K.
VALORANT regional event viewership dominated by North America is not a new trend. According to Esports Charts, North American events are some of the most-watched regional events in terms of peak viewers and total hours watched in VALORANT’s short history.
Given how much viewership Sentinels and 100T are capable of driving and that it was the league opening match, there’s a chance that a significant amount of time passes before another Americas match passes this peak. Still, it’s a strong start, given how committed Riot is to VALORANT in North America.
Published: Apr 2, 2023 12:04 pm