LEC and LCS Grand Finals Reach Huge Viewership Numbers
By Wyatt Fossett ·
This weekend has seen a whole lot of very exciting competitive League of Legends play, and the viewership numbers reach high peaks in reflection of that.
We’re not even halfway through this amazing year of League of Legends yet and it is already setting a new standard for excitement. The viewers agree as fans are tuning into 2019 Playoffs in droves across the globe.
LCS
On Saturday, we saw two of the most storied franchises in North American League of Legends history enter into digital combat for the crown of the west. Even though the match was extremely worth the hype based on the performances, it’s always going to come down to the popularity and pull of the names and brands on the scoreboard.
Which helped greatly in drawing in fans from all over to converge on the 2019 LCS Spring Grand Finals. As reported earlier in the month, Team Liquid is the most watched Esports organization on earth, and in case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of TSM fans.
The “T-S-M” chants were drowning in St. Louis as the once-rulers of NA looked to reclaim their glory. Meanwhile, it was a Doublelift (who’s inarguably the GOAT in the region) and his Team Liquid who sought their third championship in a row, sitting across the stage from TSM.
Aside from the matchup, there were plenty of substantial storylines heading into the Grand Finals on Saturday. Would Doublelift or Bjergsen win their 6th Championship? Could Zven claim a North American Championship as a former EU Champion? Would Jensen finally have something to put in his trophy case? Are TSM's rookies really that good?
The broadcast of the 2019 LCS Spring Grand Finals came in at second place in the all-time NA viewership peak with 600,000 viewers across all platforms (Twitch and YouTube). The 2017 Spring Finals between TSM and the beloved Cloud9 is the only higher rank on that list.
LEC
Across the pond, the newly minted LEC had their first-ever Spring Split in 2019, and it saw just as much excitement, even with their short time played.
G2 Esports and their #G2ARMY are never shy to show up both in-person and online to support their team. Boy did they put on a show this weekend. G2 Esports may have won the Spring Championship in record time, but they did it in a brilliantly fiery way, and the exciting matches always find a way to draw in more eyes.
The team on the unfortunate end of the new G2 time records, Origen, have recently made a resurgence in the European League of Legends scene, but bring with them a long history of support dating back nearly a decade.
In total, the 2019 LEC Spring Grand Finals peaked at just over 475,000 viewers during the broadcast. Given the time at which it occurred, it could have had way more if the West Coast of North America had been awake.
In the end, it’s very exciting to see that all of the League of Legends viewership numbers are up year-over-year on 2018, as this Esports scene is still so very young.
Next up is the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational which will bring together all of the best teams across the globe. Each regions champion is invited to the tournament in an attempt to capture international glory on the big stage.
Last year’s MSI peaked at 128 million viewers, so we will have to see how this season’s version of the competition ranks.