LCS isn’t reaching a large enough European audience, community casting takes CBLOL to a new level

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The new LCS, and CBLOL seasons are in full swing, and the LEC winter season has already come to an end. The matches of these leagues occasionally overlap with each other, leading to audience migration. Esports Charts analyzed how the tournaments affect each other in terms of viewership statistics. As it turns out, LCS is highly dependent on European viewers and community casting, while LEC fans hardly watch CBLOL matches.

The viewership statistics of the leagues over weekends confirm that LEC hardly feels competition from CBLOL and LCS, even when their matches overlap in time. On Western streaming platforms, LEC confidently leads in all viewership metrics, second only to LCK.

Due to the match schedule, LEC and LCS broadcasts rarely overlap directly, but this doesn't negate the fact that both leagues share a common audience: LCS does not reach enough viewers from Europe when both leagues are on air simultaneously. For example, Karmine Corp vs. SK Gaming was played at the same time with Dignitas vs. 100 Thieves. The audience for the second match on the official channel was around 20,000 viewers until the LEC match ended. Only after the end of European League game day (and additional raids from the LEC and Caedrel channels) did the audience of the main LCS channel grow to 40,000+ people.

LEC and LCS matches overlapping — Jan 28

It's also interesting to note that the number LCS viewers gradually decreases as late evening or night falls in Europe. Typically, the peak of viewership activity in esports series occurs during the last games, but the situation is reversed in LCS matches: the peak of viewership often occurs during the first games of the series. This happens because European viewers start watching the series, but the longer it drags on, the more viewers tend to drop off.

A similar situation occurs with CBLOL and LCS. Usually, the American league starts immediately after the Brazilian one, and when matches overlap, it's clear to see how the audience transitions from one league to another, largely due to community casters switching leagues. However, there's no such migration of viewers between LEC and CBLOL: LEC matches ended slightly earlier during the weekend of February 10-11, but European viewers didn't switch to watch the Brazilians: there are no spikes in CBLOL audience numbers during those moments.

CBLOL has gradually caught up with LCS in terms of audience reach in recent years, and now the Brazilian league confidently surpasses the American one in all metrics. A significant milestone in this league rivalry occurred in 2024 when Riot Games allowed community casting in CBLOL. Many Brazilian streamers began broadcasting league matches, with Baiano emerging as the primary figure: his channels currently lead in Hours Watched, average viewership, and peak concurrent viewers.

In 2024, Baiano started covering not only CBLOL but also LCS matches. It was his Portuguese-language broadcasts that accounted for 17.2% of the total Hours Watched for the entire NA league. Interestingly, the audience doesn't fully follow their favorite community caster: this is evident when Baiano switches from CBLOL matches to LCS matches. Baiano's contribution to the viewership statistics of the Brazilian league is significantly higher than to those of the North American league.

Currently, Baiano's community casting plays a major role in the rivalry between CBLOL and LCS. Statistics indicate that if the Brazilian didn't cover League of Legends tournaments at all, LCS would surpass CBLOL in audience reach. After all, the American league boasts many other popular community casters, such as Sneaky, Doublelift, and Caedrel. 

In regard to the LEC, the league's dynamics are effectively independent of matches in the CBLOL and LCS. Even though the LEC shares audiences with other leagues, the vast majority of its viewers stay tuned to the European league's broadcasts until they end.