First Stand 2025 viewership: Teething pains for LoL's newest global event
The recent First Stand 2025 was memorable for Hanwha Life Esports, which clinched its first-ever international trophy following a year of strong results. However, in terms of viewership dynamics, it left a lot to be desired. The Grand Final reached only 1.1 million Peak Viewers (PV), lower than fans' expectations for a debut international event.
The tournament's eventual 18 million Hours Watched (HW) was even more surprising, with Esports Charts' pre-tournament predictions pointing to a much higher watch time figure. The newest global championship on the League of Legends calendar did not reach its potential, with audience interest not as high as usually associated with such competitions.
But why was this the case? What caused the viewership figures to be lower than other prominent, international LoL event series like the Mid-Season Invitational? We crunched a few numbers to try and get to the bottom of it.
Before it kicked off, we expected the inaugural First Stand tournament to rack up at least 40 million HW. However, factors like an inconvenient time zone and the absence of popular teams like T1 and LOUD, saw it fall short of this number by more than 200%
The first cross-regional competition of the 2025 League of Legends esports calendar was held in Korea, which meant matches were livestreamed early in the morning or late at night for Western audiences. This less-than-ideal schedule for global viewership left its mark on the tournament’s results.
Also, the absence of a Portuguese-speaking representative at the First Stand 2025 left its usually vocal community underutilised, especially fans from Brazil.
Riot Games introduced the First Stand 2025 to spark regional rivalries and showcase innovative strategies at the start of the new season. However, it was not as influential as the Mid-Season Invitational or the World Championship, which have become legacy tournaments for many fans.
That it came so early in the season, right after the respective first splits of the five main regions, would not have helped. Usually, fans are at their most focused when the season is coming to a close and there is a lot at stake, especially regarding qualification for the Worlds.
The prize money may have been higher at the First Stand 2025, but it is more important for fans to see their teams take part in the best competitions, which they see in the MSI and Worlds.
Comparing the inaugural First Stand to last year's MSI shows how the former’s viewership dynamics differ from the established mid-season series. Teams who played in the qualifying tournaments for this mid-season event saw their average online viewership jump by at least two times come the main round, while some grew ten times. After First Stand 2025’s qualifiers, teams saw their viewership rise by 1.6 times on average for the main event.
When looking at the finalists, Hanwha Life Esports was more popular among viewers during the recent LCK Cup 2025 than at the First Stand 2025, with its Average Viewers (AV) count decreasing by 2%. This can be correlated to T1's presence in the top Korean LoL league, as the highly popular team's matches usually attract higher online crowds irrespective of who it plays.
Hanwha Life Esports was part of the most popular match at the Winter split of Korea's top-tier league, the Grand Final, as it also involved Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok and his world-champion teammates. The side's clashes with the other dominant force in the country, Gen.G, also made it to the above list twice.
Meanwhile, Karmine Corp — which did well to reach the Grand Final in Korea — saw a rise of just 31% in its AV numbers at the year's first global competition compared to the record-breaking LEC Winter 2025. This was in contrast to Hanwha Life Esports, with fans of the popular side, co-owned by famous French Twitch streamer Kamil "kamet0" Kebir, always on hand to give it maximum support wherever it plays.
Of course, it would have made things better if each top regional side like T1, LOUD, and Invictus Gaming had made the cut, as they are celebrated by not only their home fans but those around the world. The presence of Faker & Co, especially, remains crucial to any international LoL tournament, as they are perhaps the most renowned act not only in this game but across esports.
In essence, the presence of the top esports organisations and the suitability of livestream timings for Western audiences continue to play a vital role in the success of LoL's major tournaments. A name like T1 hugely boosts the audience interest, attracting more co-streamers and positively affecting the viewership dynamics.
All this does come with the caveat that the First Stand is still in its early days. Hence, there could yet be tweaks, big and small, to future iterations as Riot Games looks to perfect it and finetune it to match the success of its other two global championship series.
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