The First-Ever League of Legends World Championship Qualifying Series Breaks Viewership Records
The League of Legends World Championship squad for 2023 has been determined through the first-ever Worlds Qualifying Series. This series gained immense popularity, attracting three times the number of viewers compared to the LCS Summer Split peak.
The qualification event took place on October 9, serving as a curtain-raiser for the 2023 Worlds Play-In, where teams from the LEC and LCS faced off. Despite inconvenient timing for European and North American audiences, the event drew a massive online crowd.
The match reached a peak of 618,854 concurrent viewers, as reported by Esports Charts, nearly matching the viewership of the LEC Summer Split.
European fans had to wake up in the early hours of the morning to watch the match, while North American fans stayed up late as the match kicked off at midnight CT. BDS easily defeated Golden Guardians, eliminating them from the Worlds tournament before it officially began.
A significant portion of the viewership resulted from the hype around the upcoming Worlds tournament. Additionally, fans were excited about the rare EU vs. NA grudge match since the mid-2010s switch to two major international tournaments per year.
This one-sided match demonstrated the community’s dedication to all phases of Worlds, with a large number of viewers tuning in to watch the battle between the two fourth-seeded teams. Unfortunately, this further highlights the lower viewership of the LCS compared to the Worlds Qualifying Series.
In the most recent split of the NA League season, the average viewership was just over 75,000, with a peak of around 224,000 for the grand final between Cloud9 and NRG. This was only a third of the viewership for the WQS game.
League Viewership Declines Across Major Leagues, Hitting the LCS The Hardest
The viewership of League as a whole experienced a decline during the 2023 Summer season for various reasons. Faker’s injury and absence significantly impacted the viewership of the LCK midseason and playoffs. The LEC’s awkward schedule and spread-out playoffs series also received criticism from fans and players.
For the LCS, the move to a midweek timeslot instead of a weekend primetime broadcast had a negative impact. Riot Games relocated the NA VALORANT Champions Tour to the studio on weekends, which further contributed to the decline in LCS viewership. Many anticipated a similar drop in viewership for Worlds, especially after the group stage of the 2022 edition saw a nearly 40 percent decrease in viewers, despite a concurrent record being set during the grand final.
The 2023 Worlds Play-In Begins with Record-Breaking Expectations
By the end of the month, we will know if this trend of declining viewership continues for this year’s edition of the League of Legends World Championship. The 2023 Worlds Play-In starts today with Movistar R7 facing off against PSG Talon, marking the beginning of this pinnacle tournament.
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