EMEA Masters Spring 2023 demonstrates worst viewership statistics over last two years

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A new EMEA Masters Spring 2023 (League of Legends) season featured a successful debut of Turkish teams but was one of the worst events in the European Masters/EMEA Masters series by viewership. This was mostly due to the lack of top teams like Team Heretics and Karmine Corp. Read more in our recap of the event.

The EMEA Masters Spring is the first tournament in the redesigned European series. It has the same format as the European Masters, but differs in the distribution of quota places among regional leagues. Previously, European Masters tournaments had more LFL, Superliga and Ultraliga representatives, but this time TCL (Turkey) and Arabian League (MENA) representatives were given additional quotas. 

We should remind you that Riot Games changed the status of the Turkish league TCL before the start of the 2023 season. There are no direct quotas for MSI and Worlds anymore for the region, and the league itself has become part of the European Masters ecosystem.

EMEA Masters Spring 2023 Viewership Statistics

Most popular EMEA Masters Spring 2023 matches

The EMEA Masters Spring 2023 matches accumulated over 3 million Hours Watched. The tournament's Average Viewers number was 42.3K, with the Peak Viewers number reaching 108.4K. The last time the European league showed such poor results was in 2019-2020.

The Grand Final of the EMEA Masters Spring 2023 between Istanbul Wildcats and Unicorns of Love Sexy Edition became the most popular game. The Turkish team made an incredible comeback and secured victory in the decisive series. 

Istanbul Wildcats also became the most popular team of the tournament, both by Hours Watched and Average Viewers. The latter metric puts TCL just 6% ahead of its closest competitor.

Most popular EMEA Masters 2023 teams

French became the most popular language at the EMEA Masters Spring 2023, accounting for about 31% of the total Hours Watched. It is followed by Turkish, English, and Spanish, which have approximately the same share. 

Compared to the European Masters Summer 2022, the share of French dropped from 41.5% to 31% of total HW. The Average and Peak Viewers numbers plummeted, which is especially visible in the playoffs. When the French teams played their last games in the quarterfinals, the PV number on the French broadcast reached 39.2K viewers. When the last LFL representative left the tournament, the French coverage did not exceed 12.2K PV even during the Grand Final.  

It should be noted that the EMEA Masters Spring 2023 matches were covered only by the official channels, without any community casting. Otplol_ became the most popular channel in terms of total viewership.

Comparison of EMEA Masters Spring 2023 with previous tournaments

Comparison of EMEA Masters Spring 2023 with European Masters leagues in 2022

The EMEA Masters Spring 2023 showed a big drop in all metrics compared with last year's European Masters events. For example, compared with the European Masters Summer 2022, the AV number decreased by 30%, and the PV number plummeted by as much as 61.5%. The lag from the European Masters Spring 2022 is even more significant.

A decline in viewership is easy to explain. First, Team Heretics, one of the most popular of European Masters Summer 2022 (which also claimed the title), no longer plays in the Spanish Superliga. In 2023, Team Heretics received a slot in the LEC franchise league and now plays there. Los Heretics Academy plays in the Spanish league instead, but it is not as popular with viewers as the main team.

Second, one of the most popular teams in the European Masters series, the French team Karmine Corp, failed in the spring season of the LFL home league and did not make it to the EMEA Masters. As a result, the European league was left without its main viewership contributor, which led to a drop in viewers and total watch time. During the European Masters Summer 2022, the situation was similar, but Karmine Corp's absence was overshadowed by Team Heretics.

We should remind you that in 2023, EMEA Masters lost another potential media contributor with a large audience — the Spanish team KOI moved from the Superliga to the LEC along with Heretics, and will no longer perform in the European Championship. Before leaving for the LEC, however, KOI had twice missed such an opportunity, as it played poorly in its home league.

Similar to the European Masters, the audience reach of the EMEA Masters is still very much dependent on the results of specific teams from specific regions. This season, the French teams performed worse than usual and left the tournament in the first round of the playoffs. Partly because of this, the tournament attracted a much smaller audience compared to last year.