TenZ’s co-streams could launch T1 ahead of Korean rivals Gen.G and DRX in Valorant
T1 recently announced Tyson “TenZ” Ngo as their newest influencer. The news follows a poor viewership result for T1 during the Group Stage of the VCT 2026: Pacific Stage 1, despite a lossless streak. Considering the Canadian’s star status in Valorant, he could become the answer to T1’s search for a foothold in Valorant.
TenZ, one of Valorant’s biggest stars, announced his retirement from professional competition at the end of 2024. Since then, he left Sentinels, the legendary North American organization where he built his fame, and established himself as one of Valorant’s most significant co-streamers and content creators. Now, he has joined T1 after operating independently for over a year.
Why did T1 sign TenZ? Low viewership and shifting demographics
During the VCT 2026: Pacific Stage 1 Group Stage, T1 went on a five match winstreak, dominating their group. However, viewership remained relatively low, according to statistics from Esports Charts. Ranking teams by Average Viewers, T1 was the 9th most popular team of the Pacific Group Stage — behind fellow Korean organizations Gen.G and DRX in a 12 team league. Searching for an answer to building a community in Valorant, T1 has turned to signing one of Valorant’s most recognisable names.
As an independent streamer, TenZ operated as one of Valorant’s most popular esports broadcasts throughout 2025. According to our viewership statistics of the major 2025 Valorant Champions Tour events, and also Valorant Masters Santiago 2026, TenZ’s co-streaming viewership has consistently outperformed the official Korean-language broadcast for Valorant esports. While not necessarily a native audience, this sizeable following could be transformative for T1.
TenZ’s position in the English-language market may also be an advantage for T1. As reported in our article covering Group Stage results, Korean-language viewership fell drastically for the Pacific, even hitting an all-time low. With interest fading from this demographic, a pivot to an English-speaking audience may prove timely. Notably, English-language interest indeed slipped for the Pacific, but it remains a core audience, and an injection of viewership from TenZ’s coverage may help sustain this demographic.
How much viewership could TenZ bring to T1?
Since going fulltime, TenZ has been one of Valorant’s most popular esports co-streamers. At both Valorant Masters Bangkok 2025 and Valorant Masters Toronto 2025 the Canadian co-streamer earned over 27,000 average concurrent viewers, making him one of the game’s most popular co-streamers for the entire year.
To make a more fair comparison with T1’s position in the Pacific International League, we took TenZ’s viewership data for co-streams during the VCT 2025: Americas Stage 1. During this stage, TenZ earned over 18,200 Average Viewers for his independent co-streams. Now that the creator is directly attached to a team, the higher stakes games may help build a larger foundational audience in the future.
However, it is worth nothing that despite TenZ’s legendary status, things in esports rarely remain static. The past year has seen viewership shift between major co-streaming figures in Valorant: Pujan “FNS” Mehta overtook Tarik “tarik” Çelik to become NA’s top co-streamer, new participants such as Turkey’s Ferit “wtcn” Karakaya became one of the most popular broadcasts, and many historical top streamers saw a significant dip in viewership, including TenZ.
While still one of the Americas’ top stars, TenZ’s average concurrent viewership for first Masters of 2026 dropped by roughly 40% compared to both Masters of the previous year. The crucial question for T1 is how much of TenZ’s 2026 viewership will make the jump to the Pacific circuit’s games.
How many viewers watched TenZ’s co-stream as part of T1?
TenZ immediately jumped into his new co-streaming business, supporting T1 in their second playoffs match of the Pacific league on the same day as his announcement. T1 lost their opening match 0:2 against Thailand’s FULL SENSE, and TenZ found himself cheering on T1 against Rex Regum Qeon in the lower-bracket. With elimination on the line, T1 managed a 2:1 victory to progress in the bracket and eliminate the Indonesian team from contention.
For TenZ’s first co-stream as a T1 streamer, over 12,400 Average Viewers tuned in to watch T1 defeat RRQ. While not as strong as his previous results in the Americas, this was still enough to become one of the league’s most-popular co-streamers, falling only behind Japanese co-streamers and FNS in terms of Average Viewers.
TenZ’s boost would not have put T1 among the Pacific’s top five most popular teams, a highly-contested leaderboard, but it would put it ahead of the rest of the pack, including local rivals Gen.G, DRX, and Nongshim RedForce. For the future, TenZ could reliably put T1 ahead of their Korean competition in the Pacific league, and help build their community. Also, considering TenZ’s massive viewership at previous Masters events, T1 could be facing a dream scenario if they qualify for Masters London 2026.
Looking forward, T1 are next scheduled to play on May 15th against Paper Rex, the most popular team in the Pacific and one of Valorant’s most popular squads globally. With only four teams left in the event, and these two finding themselves in the lower-bracket, the winner of this game will qualify for Masters London 2026, and the loser eliminated. Keep an eye on the viewership of the Pacific circuit as playoffs reaches its final games, now including TenZ’s co-streaming bonus, too.
