LFL vs. LVP: European leagues' successes and failures in the winter season 2025

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The LFL and LVP regional leagues continue their rivalry on the professional League of Legends scene. With both leagues recently concluding their Winter Seasons, we now have an opportunity to compare whether Spanish or French fanbases were the most engaged at the start of the year.

The LFL vs. LVP rivalry

The unspoken rivalry between LFL and LVP began a few years ago when the media-driven teams Karmine Corp and KOI joined the leagues, owned by popular streamers Kamel "Kameto" Kebir and Ibai ‘’Ibai’’ Llanos. Thanks to their strong community following, these leagues captured the attention of thousands of viewers around the world, sometimes matching the viewership of franchise leagues that grant spots for World Championship. Over time, both Karmine Corp and KOI moved up to the LEC, shifting the rivalry between LFL and LVP to their respective academy teams.

By early 2025, French fans stood out as the most active — the LFL Winter 2025 surpassed LVP Superliga Winter 2025 by more than double in total watch hours, and nearly tripled in both peak and average viewership. Despite the Spanish league leading in the number of unique streaming channels, it couldn’t close the gap with LFL.

Interestingly, the most popular matches in both leagues were not the grand finals, but regular group stage games, obviously featuring Karmine Corp Blue and KOI Fenix, respectively. In both instances, the academy teams of Karmine Corp and KOI were defeated.

LFL Winter 2025: Viewership trends and dynamics

When looking at the regional dynamics, LFL Winter 2025 surpassed LFL Summer 2024 in average viewership with a 21% increase, a notable rise for a national league. This growth can be attributed to the increasing presence of media organizations in the LFL, backed by popular streamers. In addition to the Karmine Corp academy, the league saw the arrival of new teams like Gentle Mates and Joblife, owned by streamers Corentin "Gotaga" Houssein and Toma ‘’JLTomy’’ Abdellaoui. Both teams were eliminated early in LFL Winter 2025, and the final stages of the league lacked their community-driven broadcasts. Had Gentle Mates and Joblife advanced to the playoffs or faced Karmine Corp Blue in the grand final, the peak viewership would have likely been much higher.

Another key factor for Average Viewers growth is the league's new format, which is now half as long as last season. While this reduced the overall Hours Watched by 30%, the AV remained consistently high for a longer period.

In terms of trends, the French league continues to heavily depend on Kameto's streams, which, over time, have attracted fewer viewers to LFL broadcasts. This decline isn’t due to the streamer's waning popularity, but because most fans prefer following the main Karmine Corp team in the LEC rather than its academy team in the LFL.

LVP Superliga Winter 2025: Viewership trends and dynamics

The Spanish LVP Superliga is experiencing tough times. During LVP Superliga Winter 2025, we recorded a significant decline in both total watch hours and peak viewership.

The main factor behind this drop is the absence of Ibai streams. In previous seasons, he regularly covered his team’s matches, but at the start of 2025, Ibai took a nearly two-month break from streaming. This hiatus impacted not only LVP Superliga’s viewership but also the LEC. To fill the gap, KOI’s other streamers, Jaime Mellado and Alejandro ‘’kuentinlol’’ Cotrina, stepped in to cover the matches, but their channels were unable to make up for Ibai’s absence.

The official LVPes channel also saw a sharp decline in viewership. Compared to last season, the average viewership dropped by 34.5%, and peak viewership decreased dramatically by 85%.

This season, the Spanish league highlighted the risks of being too reliant on community-driven casting and specific streamers. Had Kameto not streamed LFL matches, the viewership numbers for the French league would likely have been far less impressive.