LCK Cup 2025 became the second most popular event in the history of LCK series
The LCK Cup 2025 pre-season tournament left League of Legends fans quite surprised both in South Korea and around the world. The event attracted 1,907,634 Peak Viewers, making it the most popular tournament of 2025 so far, and the second most popular event in the LCK history. However, the final numbers might have been even higher if not for the early exit of a fan favorite.
The biggest surprise of the LCK Cup 2025 was T1’s unexpected elimination — the Korean powerhouse lost to Hanwha Life Esports 3-2 in the first round of the playoffs and ended up finishing in sixth place. Fans had high expectations for the reigning World Champions, and T1’s overall performance in the tournament drew significant criticism. Many fans were upset when the coaching staff decided to bench the team’s main ADC, Lee ‘’Gumayusi’’ Min-hyung, in favor of the backup player, Sin ‘’Smash’’ Guem-jae.
Later, T1’s general manager Jeong “Becker” Hoi-yoon explained the decision, saying that since the current LCK Cup format doesn’t affect World Championship qualification, the tournament provided a good opportunity to experiment with new players. In the end, T1 was eliminated from LCK Cup 2025, missed out on First Stand 2025, and now won’t play their next official match until April.
After defeating T1, Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) kept their winning streak alive, taking down Gen.G Esports and Dplus. In the Grand Final, they faced Gen.G again and came out on top once more. What’s interesting is that HLE won every match with a 3-2 score — their road to the championship wasn’t easy.
Now, HLE will represent South Korea at First Stand 2025, a new international tournament from Riot Games. Interestingly, the LCK Cup MVP was Choi ‘’Zeus’’ Woo-je, who played for T1 last season before leaving the championship team under unusual circumstances to join Hanwha Life Esports.
LCK Cup 2025 Viewership Statistics
The most popular match of the LCK Cup 2025 was the first-round playoff game between T1 and Hanwha Life Esports, which peaked at 1,907,634 viewers. However, the final saw almost 25% fewer viewers — games with T1 tend to attract a lot more attention than other matchups, even finals.
Hanwha Life Esports played the most games and became the most-watched team of the tournament. However, when it came to average viewers per match, they were far behind T1.
The LCK Cup is a unique tournament, different from previous LCK seasons in terms of format. However, the audience distribution by language and platform is similar. Korean broadcasts lead, making up about half of the total viewing hours, and also have the highest average and peak viewership. English and Vietnamese are the next most popular languages. On the platform side, YouTube accounted for half of the viewing hours, while Twitch made up around 23%.
The LCK Cup 2025 became the second most-watched tournament in LCK history, only behind LCK Spring 2024, which had over 2,6 million viewers at its peak.
During the LCK Cup 2025, CHZZK broadcasts reached 215,939 viewers, setting a new record for the Korean platform in esports, even higher than the 2024 World Championship. TikTok broadcasts peaked at 108,352 viewers, the second-highest for League of Legends tournaments, after Worlds 2024.
Top esports events on CHZZK:
| #
|
Tournament
|
Peak Viewers
|
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
LCK Cup 2025 |
215 939 |
|
2 |
2024 World Championship |
212 184 |
|
3 |
LCK Spring 2024 |
187 874 |
|
4 |
Mid-Season Invitational 2024 |
140 067 |
|
5 |
LCK Regional Finals 2024 |
127 246 |
The LCK Cup 2025 far outpaces other regional League of Legends tournaments in viewership this year. The peak viewership for LCK Cup 2025 is nearly 3.5 times higher than LEC Winter 2025, and the average viewership per match is 28.4% higher than the European league, which is the second most popular.
The LCK Cup 2025 has become the most popular event of the year so far, not just in League of Legends but in other games too. It has surpassed both IEM Katowice 2025 and Snapdragon Pro Series Season 6 APAC - Challenge Finals in viewership.
The viewership for LCK Cup 2025 could have been higher if T1 hadn’t been knocked out early. The roster changes played a big role, but the strange league format also had an impact. The playoffs used a double-elimination bracket, but the “second-chance” rule didn’t apply to first-round teams. As a result, T1 was eliminated after their first loss, even though they were one of the top teams in the group stage. Similar issues can be seen in other leagues, like LTA.
From a viewership perspective, T1 (or Gen.G) would have brought more viewers to First Stand 2025. However, Hanwha Life Esports earned their spot and deserves recognition. The top five teams from major regional leagues will compete in First Stand 2025. Along with HLE, there will be CTBC Flying Oyster, Team Liquid, and the champions of LPL Split 1 2025 and LEC Winter 2025, which will be decided in early March.
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