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Photo: LKS
The European community has had a hard time following the North American League of Legends scene several times. Because the time zones are so high on the west coast, many final matches are played in the wee hours. According to the results from afar, we were especially surprised by the victory N.R.G. this weekend in the grand finals, and even more so to have teams with a great track record and favorites for this victory, as is the case with Cloud 9 or Team Liquid although the latter was relegated to the World Cup as a last resort.
The public usually likes stories and narratives in which outsider beat heavyweights in the league. So we could imagine how viewers could have an occasional outburst. But EsportCharts It spoiled the moment a bit, and ruined it completely, as the wake-up calls, as far as the public is concerned, began to sound in NA.
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The maximum peak falls by about 40% compared to 2022.
Indicator peak audience It’s not perfect, but it’s a good standard. In the summer of 2023, the most popular match was obviously NRG’s match against C9 from the grand final, with the pick 222,000 spectators. If you haven’t seen these statistics, or don’t visit them often, you might think they’re not bad, but in the long term, they’re about 40% below the summer 2022 peak (370 000 ). We are not even talking about the numbers during the Covid-19 period, which are higher and twice as high as this year: 545 000 summer 2020 and 494 000 summer 2019.
At the level of average values, the drop is also significant. Between the summer of 2023 and the summer of 2022, we have gone beyond the average audience from 115,000 to 78,000. You can flip the equation, and even if you haven’t studied math, the situation seems a little unsettling, especially when the scene is supposed to resume with a rookie victory.
Initial hit, problem for this data
Given the distance, it is difficult to develop an accurate theory to explain this drop in numbers, especially since so many factors come into play. But without going too far initial blow players LKS certainly, this was one of the factors that caused such low rates.
We remember that the season started a few days late due to the collective protest of the players against the working conditions and salaries of many players in the academies. With a somewhat confusing agreement and a return to competition, the first weeks of hearings were rough.
In addition to this event, The North American scene has been fizzling out for a while now. As in Europe, LCS teams fail to gain a foothold in international competitions, and their participation in MSI and Worlds leaves much to be desired despite millions of dollars invested, making it difficult to gather a large crowd of fans. Besides, inaloran occupies a huge space in North America, so much so that some members of the community even believe that Riot is abandoning League of Legends in order to focus on its shooter tactical.
