Most-watched Worlds runs of Korean, Chinese, EU, and NA teams

The League of Legends World Championship began in 2011 with its inaugural season, and the 2023 Worlds begins its Semifinals this Saturday, November 11. Three Chinese teams will face off against one Korean team, and it’s one of the most dominant performances the Chinese LPL region has been able to produce.

The Chinese LPL and Korean LCK leagues produce some of the most competitive League of Legends teams in the world. Alongside the European LEC and North American LCS leagues, these four leagues are accountable for the vast majority of viewership at any Worlds event.

The LEC rebranded to an EMEA Championship in 2023: Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Because this is a new change, the LEC will be referred to as the European League in this article, as we are largely dealing with historical data.

These four major regions are the largest contributors to making Worlds the consistently most-watched esports event of the year. But, which seasons of the event have been the most successful for each region? Here, we will look at each major region's most successful Worlds events: defined as viewership success and also the most competitively successful event for teams of each region.

Korean LCK Teams Viewership

Korean LCK best viewership at Worlds

The most successful year for Korean team viewership in the event series’ history was Worlds 2022. The main stage of this year’s Worlds event was hosted in the United States, but the unfortunate timezone for Korean viewership did not hinder the passionate Korean audiences for the event.

2022 was one of the most competitive years for Korean teams at Worlds, and the Worlds 2022 event featured three Korean teams in the Semifinals stage. Dplus, the only Korean team not to make it to the Semis, was still present in the Playoffs stage and was eliminated by Gen.G in the Quarterfinals.

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In total, the four Korean teams at Worlds 2022 generated 112.7M Hours Watched, contributing more than 79% to the event’s total watch time. The all-Korean Grand Final between DRX and T1 reached 5.14M Peak Viewers, making it the most popular Worlds match ever.

DRX achieved the most watch time out of the four competitors, contributing 38.7% to the total watch time of LCK teams at the event. However, DRX benefitted from competing in the Play-In stage at the event, and they were live for roughly 9 hours longer than main competitor T1. In terms of Average Viewers, T1 was by far the most popular team at the event.

Worlds 2022 was the most successful year of the event series for Korean viewership, and DRX came away with another World Championship for the LCK region. But, what year of Worlds was the weakest for Korean viewership?

At Worlds 2018, three Korean teams competed at the event: KT Rolster, Afreeca Freecs, and Gen.G. Gen.G failed to advance past their group, and both KT Rolster and Afreeca Freecs were eliminated in the Quarterfinals: Afreeca CS were defeated 0-3 by North American underdogs Cloud9.

Korean teams have generated an average of 65M+ Hours Watched at any Worlds event since 2017. In 2018, the three Korean teams at Worlds garnered only 19.13M Hours Watched. 2018 remains a year to forget for Korean fans, one of the weakest performances competitively for the region and not coincidentally one of the weakest years for Korean viewership.

China LPL Teams Viewership

Chinese LPL best viewership at Worlds

The most successful year for LPL viewership at Worlds was not 2018 or 2019 when FPX secured back-to-back world championships for the LPL region, but 2020. The Worlds 2020 event saw three of the four attending LPL teams at the event advance to the Semifinals, but only one of them could advance to the finals.

Viewership statistics from Chinese live-streaming platforms were not included in this data, due to the unreliability of the statistics. However, Chinese-language broadcasts on Western platforms like Twitch and YouTube are included.

JD Gaming and Top Esports Gaming played each other in the Quarterfinals, and then Suning Gaming and Top Esports Gaming played each other in the Semifinals. Suning Gaming were unable to win a third world championship in a row for the LPL region, but they garnered 34.41M Hours Watched in total and the Chinese teams became the biggest contributors to event total watch time of any region at the event.

The 2020 Worlds event was also hosted in China. Although the home-field advantage wasn’t enough for an LPL team to claim a world championship, the hype for these local teams at the event helped to build up a bigger following for them.

2022 featured the weakest viewership for LPL teams at any Worlds event, with 50.4M Hours Watched generated. Although past events in 2017 and 2018 generated fewer Hours Watched, these events were generally less watched than the events of the following years. 2022 featured the lowest viewership for LPL teams, when compared to the viewership of LCK, LCS, and LEC teams.

Between 2017 and 2021, LPL teams generated roughly 30% of the total watch time for teams of the four major regions. In 2022, this fell to 22.8%. At the Worlds 2022 event, three LPL teams qualified for Playoffs, EDward Gaming, Royal Never Give Up, and JD Gaming, but two of these teams were eliminated in the Quarterfinals and JD Gaming were eliminated by T1 in the Semifinals.

EU LEC Teams Viewership

EU LEC best viewership at Worlds

Compared to the LPL and LCK, the LEC and LCS are generally much smaller in terms of viewership. However, Worlds 2019 was an extremely strong performance for both the LEC teams at the event, and viewership for these teams.

At Worlds 2019, an LEC team was the most-watched of any at the event, and the EU region garnered the majority of the watch time for the event. This was thanks to G2 Esports, who recorded their best-ever finish at the Worlds event in 2019. The European powerhouse team recorded 36.78M Hours Watched and was the most-watched team of the event: even more so than fan-favourites T1, who they eliminated in the Semifinals.

Proof of both G2 Esports’ and T1’s popularity, their Semifinal match was the most popular game of the event, with 3.98M Peak Viewers. The Grand Final between G2 Esports and LPL representatives FPX received only 3.7M Peak Viewers.

G2 Esports achieved a 3-4th place finish at both Worlds 2018 and 2020, but they have not been able to replicate their Grand Finals appearance, which boosted LEC viewership to the top of Worlds for that year. 2018 was also a success for the region, as Fnatic reached the Grand Finals stage. They were not able to become the champions, but they garnered just enough watch time to become the most-watched region of the event, earning 100K Hours Watched more than LPL teams.

We haven’t included Worlds 2023 in these datasets as the tournament is not yet completed. However, 2023 will likely become the weakest year for LEC viewership, due to the fact that no LEC teams advanced to Playoffs. This marks the first time since 2014 that not a single LEC team was able to qualify for the Playoffs stage.

In contrast to this high, Worlds 2021 was the comparatively weakest year for LEC viewership at any Worlds event. Of the three LEC teams to attend Worlds 2021, Fnatic, Rogue, and MAD Lions, only the latter were able to advance to playoffs. MAD Lions were promptly knocked out of Playoffs in a swift 0-3 Quarterfinals loss, cementing the year not only as one of the weakest LEC performances at Worlds but one of the weakest years for viewership.

NA LCS Teams Viewership

Finally, the LCS hosted its most successful year in terms of viewership at Worlds 2021. The three North American representatives achieved 39.98M Hours Watched for their matches at the event, and Cloud9 were even able to achieve a Playoffs appearance.

Although 2021 was the most successful year for the viewership of LCS teams, it was not the most successful tournament of Cloud9’s rich League of Legends history. As mentioned in the LCK section, Cloud9 managed to secure an upset Quarterfinals victory against Afreeca Freecs at Worlds 2018. The North American roster advanced to the Semifinals but ultimately fell against Fnatic.

In 2021, LCS teams contributed 22.9% to the total watch time of the event, surprisingly high for the region. Compared to the previous Worlds events since 2017, LCS teams achieved 17M Hours Watched more in 2021 than the other years on average.

A key part of the high proportion of viewership achieved by the LCS was that their main viewership rivals, the LEC teams, suffered a catastrophic event and recorded their lowest viewership since 2018. With LEC teams not achieving high viewership, it left the door open for the LCS teams to rake in some more viewers. 2021 was the only year in Worlds history where LCS teams achieved more watch time than their LEC rivals.

Coming off the high of a Quarterfinals appearance and a large contribution to the event’s total watch time, Worlds 2022 was a completely opposite experience for LCS teams. At Worlds 2022, LCS teams garnered the least viewership they had experienced since 2017. Between the three LCS attendees, Evil Geniuses, 100 Thieves, and Cloud9, only three games were won in the main event.

All three of these North American representatives finished the event with a 1-5 game record in their respective groups, with none of them qualifying for Playoffs. It was one of the weakest performances by LCS teams at a Worlds event, and the viewership mirrored this fact.

Luckily for LCS fans, the tables turned and NRG eSports was able to qualify for Playoffs and finish 5-8th at the Worlds 2023 event. Although the team would have been hoping for more, it's a solid return to form after the struggles of Worlds 2022.

Worlds 2023 continues this weekend with the Semifinals. With three LPL teams competing in the Semifinals, will it become the most successful year for Chinese viewership at Worlds? Will the LEC record its weakest year yet for viewership once the data is finalised? Stay up to date with the viewership data of Worlds 2023, or any other of your favourite esports events, with Esports Charts.