European Masters Summer 2022 intermediate results: what is the league capable of without Karmine Corp.?

The group stage of League of Legends European Masters Summer 2022 is in full swing — the best teams from the national leagues are competing to make the playoffs where they will fight for the €150K prize pool.

Tournament Format

There are 28 teams from the European national leagues participating in European Masters Summer 2022. Twelve teams from stronger leagues like French LFL and Spanish LVP Superliga made it straight to the main group stage. The remaining 16 teams got to the Play-In phase, which included a separate group stage and knock-out matches. This stage featured participants from the national leagues of Portugal, Greece, the Czech Republic and other countries.

Results of the Play-In group stage (results by match):

Group А: Anorthosis Famagusta (5-1), KRC Genk (4-2), JD-XL (2-4), Crvena zvezda (1-5);
Group В: Vitality.Bee (6-0), For The Win (4-2), Illuminar (2-4), Entropiq (0-6);
Group С: GameWard (5-1), White Dragons (4-2), BISONS ECLUB (3-3), The Agency (0-6).
Group D: SK Prime (5-1), eSuba (3-3), Outplayed (3-3), Team Phantasma (1-5).

Results of the Play-In elimination matches:

The top four teams from the Play-In advanced to the main group stage and joined the 12 previously invited teams.

Status of the teams in the main group stage:

Group А: UoL Sexy Edition (3-0), Vitality.Bee (2-1), Giants (1-2), Zero Tenacity (0-3);
Group В: X7 Esports (3-0), LDLC OL (2-1), AGO ROGUE (1-2), Anorthosis Famagusta (0-3);
Group С: Team BDS Academy (3-0), Team Heretics (2-1), SK Prime (1-2), Valiance (0-3);
Group D: GameWard (3-0), Dusty (2-1), FC Schalke 04 (1-2), Macko Esports (0-3).

The above results of the main group stage are intermediate. The teams must play one more round-robin tournament to determine their final group places. These matches are scheduled for September 5-8. The top two teams in each group will advance to the playoffs.

Viewership Statistics (Aug 24 - Sep 1)

The tournament is ongoing, stats for August 24th - September 1st

European Masters Summer 2022 viewership figures are still far from final, but we can already assume that the final numbers will be much lower than those of the spring season or last year. At the time of publication, the league had accumulated 1.8 million Hours Watched. The Average Viewers number at broadcasts was 45.8K, and the Peak Viewers number was 84.3K.

In comparison, the metrics of European Masters Spring 2022 were twice as high, where the Average Viewers number was 88.2K, and in the group stage the Peak Viewers number was 167K. In the playoffs, the PV number rose to 296K. This result is unlikely to be repeated at Summer Split.

There are still the group stage and playoffs left to play before the end of the European Masters Summer 2022, but you can see the difference in numbers even now. There are several reasons for the sharp decline in viewership. First, Karmine Corp. couldn't make it to Summer European Masters. Karmine Corp. is the champion of the last three seasons, as well as one of the most mediatized teams in Europe owned by the top French streamer Kamet0. In European Masters Spring 2022, Karmine Corp. was the most watched team in the tournament, accumulating 3.96 million Hours Watched. At that time, it surpassed its closest pursuer by two times in terms of this metric.

Secondly, due to the absence of the main French team, the coverage of the French-language broadcast fell sharply, and it is the French language that is considered to be the main one at European Masters. Maybe the Spanish broadcast will partially make up for this drop, but it's too early to tell, because BISONS ECLUB has already dropped out, and Giants and Team Heretics have only played three matches each. TheGrefg, who co-owns Team Heretics, could help the popularity of the Spanish broadcast. It is a pity that KOI, which is owned by ibai, another top streamer from Spain, could not make it into the summer season. The two of them and TheGrefg could have significantly increased the league's viewership.

We should remind you that the European Masters Summer 2022 playoff matches run from September 15 to 25. You can follow them on the official streams in English, French, Spanish, German and other languages. After the tournament, the Esports Charts team will provide final viewership statistics.