Despite longer format, EMEA Masters Summer 2024 could not maintain recent viewership run

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The EMEA Masters Summer 2024 was held from July 31 to August 30 as an online affair, with 60 top European teams from the summer season regional leagues battling it out for a prize pool of $162,000. The new and extended format might have helped the Group Stage reach higher watch time figures than previous iterations, but the excessive number of matches and performance of star teams offset its average and peak viewership figures.

The new, expanded format saw 32 sides duke it out in a Last Chance Qualifier, with the four best sides joining 28 prequalified teams in the Swiss Stage. At the end of around a month of action, Team BDS Academy beat Vitality Bee 3:1 in an all-LFL Grand Final to emerge as the champion and pocket $53,957.

  EMEA Masters Summer 2024 – basic stats and top matches   

The EMEA Masters Summer 2024 hit 131.3K Peak Viewers during the summit clash between two of Europe's most consistent esports organizations. It was the only game to make it into three figures, with the clash between the tournament victor and Karmine Corp Blue being the only other one to pass 90K PV.

There were two games from the Last Chance Qualifier, both involving ibai's Movistar KOI, to make the list of the top five most popular matches. As one of the most followed sides, thanks to the following enjoyed by its co-owner, it attracted a lot of viewers as it fought for a place in the Swiss Stage.

  Team BDS Academy won an all-LFL final pretty comfortably (Image via EMEA Masters on X)   

KOI did well enough to reach the Grand Final in Group D, but it could not win this crucial game to advance to the next stage. Regardless, the org managed to raise enough intrigue among its followers to make the above leaderboard twice, but its exit at the first stage played a part in the lower viewership figures of the Playoffs.

Overall, the EMEA Masters Summer 2024 hit 3.3M Hours Watched and 38.6K Average Viewers over 86 hours of airtime. There might not be any surprises as to which the most popular side by average online viewership was, but the absence of another highly-followed team and KOI's early exit mean a few other organizations were able to make a top-five list they would normally find it hard to get into.

Speaking of missing teams, Gentle Mates, whose presence has spearheaded the recent growth of this region, could not qualify for the Summer event. This was a big reason this championship could not match up to the numbers posted by the year's first edition, the EMEA Masters Spring 2024, even though Gotaga's side saw a Group Stage exit there.

Gentle Mates' absence and the Quarterfinals exit of Karmine Corp Blue meant French's watch time share compared to the spring split fell by over 7%. However, KOI's presence saw Spanish's contribution to this League of Legends tournament's cumulative HW figure increase by more than 15%, which could have been more had the side made it to the Playoffs.

  Comparing the viewership stats of the two EMEA Masters editions this year   

Another major language in this region that saw a decline was German, which slipped by around 6.5%. The country had two members in the top eight, including the winner, in the spring split, but its best finish in the summer season was two teams in the 9th to 16th bracket.

  EMEA Masters Summer 2024 – top channels   

As mentioned earlier, kamet0 and ibai manage to attract a lot of viewers when they cover their respective teams' matches. That was the case here as well, with the two finishing as the most-watched and most popular streamers.

Interestingly, the official French broadcaster of League of Legends events in the country, otplol_, saw an increase in its watch time but a decrease in its PV. This was reflective of the fact that French sides went deep in the tournament but this did not include the popular names, meaning that on average, fewer viewers were watching each game.

Most popular EMEA Masters events

When looking at the European Masters series as a whole, the Summer 2024 edition finished ninth in terms of watch time and peak concurrent viewership. While the extended format should have attracted a higher HW figure, the fact that there was more chance for unfancied names to cash in on one bad day for the favorites saw some favorites fall away before the last few matches, affecting the competition's reach.

Ultimately, the EMEA region is one that banks heavily on star teams to do well in order to attract more online spectators. That was seen in the spring split as well, and that continued in the summer iteration despite a new format, with someone like Gotaga also keenly missed due to his undeniable appeal among viewers when he is online.