EMEA Masters Play-In Recap — how the audience of the tournament has changed in the new season?
The group stage has begun at EMEA Masters Spring 2023, where the best teams from the regional leagues in Europe and the Middle East compete. The main stage of the competition was preceded by the Play-In stage, during which as many as 12 teams were eliminated. The format of the event, which is the successor of the European Masters, has not changed in 2023, but the composition of the participants has changed a lot. Esports Charts breaks down how this affected the audience statistics of the event. Spoiler: as of now, the championship is not impressive at all in terms of live viewership.
At the end of last season, Riot Games announced major changes to the European League of Legends esports structure. EMEA Masters has been replenished with participants from the Arabian League, and most importantly, teams from Turkey. Previously, TCL members competed in the global MSI / Worlds circuit, but now, alas, local teams can only be content with EMEA Masters.
Among other factors that play a decisive role in the statistics of the tournament, we can mention the changes in the composition of the Superliga, which is one of the most popular in Europe. The most media teams in the league, KOI and Heretics, have joined LEC, and now the Spanish league is no longer collecting those impressive numbers that were in previous seasons.
At the end of the Play-In stage, the tournament scored only 555K Hours Watched with an average audience of 29.6K concurrent viewers. In terms of metrics, the competition was watched less by as much as 60-62% compared to the similar stage of the European Masters Spring 2022.
More detailed statistics for the event, as well as exclusive articles, team data, and much more are available with the Esports Charts PRO subscription.
Another important factor affecting the spectator statistics was the unsuccessful performance of Karmine Corp (one of the most popular teams in Europe) in the French league. The team didn't make it to the EMEA Masters, but a year earlier it played in the Play-In stage at a similar tournament and took part in the most popular match of the stage.
This time the French were represented in the Play-In by AEGIS, and it was her meeting with Partizan Esports that became the most popular in the stage with 60.7K Peak Viewers. Alas, this is 60% lower than the audience of KC vs. EGN Esports match in the Play-In last year.
Changes in the participant list and poor performances of popular teams in the national leagues greatly affect the statistics of the EMEA Masters. Unfortunately, it is hard to believe that the event will reach the audience level of 2021-2022. However, it is still too early to draw global conclusions: there are still 2.5 weeks of matches ahead, after which we will sum up more detailed results of the competition.
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