North and South American leagues see underwhelming viewership ahead of LTA Cross-Conference

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The first regional splits of the LoL Championship of the Americas (LTA) have come to a close in North and South America, but viewership has been disappointing. The rebranded leagues are struggling to attract new viewers and retain their core audience. Notably, the South American tournament didn’t even rank among the top 10 most popular CBLOL events, while LTA North hit the lowest peak viewership in LCS history.

Both leagues managed to maintain a steady audience throughout the events but failed to achieve the expected growth as the matches advanced. The finals in both regions drew 8-9% fewer Peak Viewers (PV) than the opening games, defying the usual trend of rising interest toward decisive matches.

Both LTA South and LTA North delivered underwhelming viewership compared to their predecessors, CBLOL and LCS. LTA South managed to hold onto much of its core audience from previous years but still fell short of entering the top 10 CBLOL events by peak concurrent viewership. The situation was far worse for LTA North, which marked a new low for the former LCS series. The split peaked at under 150,000 concurrent viewers, a significant drop from the previous record low of 220,000 PV.

While the viewership numbers are far from being ideal, it's important to remember that there are reasons behind them. These events are new and unfamiliar to some viewers, and building an audience takes time. Additionally, both events were quite different from their predecessors: they were shorter in duration, featured fewer teams, and had a revamped format. For example, the "decisive" final matches in the upper and lower brackets didn't hold the same significance, as the participants had already secured their spots in the Cross-Conference finals, with only seeding to be decided.

  LTA North main channel is rapidly losng followers  

However, it's too soon for the organizers to let their guard down, particularly those behind LTA North. As we've highlighted multiple times in recent years, the league has struggled with audience retention, and the recently concluded tournament only added to the concerns. For instance, the league's main channel (now LTANorth) saw an unexpected decline in followers: while just over 300 new followers joined during the tournament, over 6,600 unsubscribed. This is hardly a promising sign for Riot Games.

That being said, the focus now shifts to the Cross-Conference, which kicks off this Saturday, February 15, featuring eight teams. They’ll compete for a $40,000 prize pool, with the grand prize being a spot at the season’s first international event and, by extension, the inaugural event in the new series, First Stand, set for mid-March.