VCT 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo — Omega Group concludes with slightly lower viewership than Alpha Group

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Yesterday, the Omega Group Quarterfinals of VCT 2023: LOCK//IN concluded. The two BO3s saw Natus Vincere and Fnatic come out on top in a decisive fashion and advance to the Semifinals. Valorant’s biggest international tournament is now reaching its final stages. Despite an impressive competitive display, none of yesterday’s series made it into the top 5 LOCK//IN matches by Peak Viewers. Which Omega Group games were popular instead, and how will the tournament continue? We have all the answers below.

  Natus Vincere advances to the VCT LOCK//IN Semifinals.  

The final day of the VCT LOCK//IN’s Omega Group began with a series between Natus Vincere and Leviatán. Both teams had previously raised fans’ expectations with their dominant journey through the group’s first stages. While the first map, Ascent, ended with a pretty even score of 13:10 in favor of NAVI, Leviatán struggled on Fracture. NAVI took the series 2:0. 

Afterwards, Fnatic and 100 Thieves faced each other in the Quarterfinals. Fnatic’s star roster had exceeded expectations in earlier matches, whereas 100T had shown weaknesses before. Still, analysts didn’t anticipate Fnatic’s domination on Fracture with a 13:1 score. On Icebox, it seemed like the 100T could pull off a comeback, but their competitor from EMEA ultimately won the series 2:0. 

With their victories, NAVI and Fnatic have advanced to LOCK//IN’s Semifinals, where they will fight each other for the first time in the tournament. The winner will either meet LOUD or DRX in the Grand Finals.

Live statistics of the tournament are available here

Which VCT LOCK//IN group was more popular among viewers?

  Omega Group's viewership dropped slightly compared to that of the Alpha Group.  

From February 22 - 27, the Omega Group accumulated nearly 15 million Hours Watched. On average, almost 360,000 fans watched the group’s matches, while viewership peaked at over 810,000 during the series between Sentinels and Fnatic. Other popular face-offs include Fnatic versus FURIA at almost 540,000 PV and ZETA DIVISION versus Leviatán with over 500,000 PV. Like the Alpha Group, the Omega Group’s most-watched channel was tarik. The Sentinels content creator accounted for over 3 million of the group’s total HW.

The group featured many beloved teams, of which Sentinels and Fnatic stand out. Sentinels has overtaken LOUD as the most-popular roster of VCT LOCK//IN with over 600,000 Average Viewers. In comparison, Fnatic is in fourth place among all LOCK//IN teams with less than 500,000 AV. No other squads from the Omega Group made it among the top 5. But ZETA DIVISION deserves an honorable mention due to its loyal fanbase. Thanks to dedicated ZETA fans, Japanese became the top-3 language of the Omega Group, with nearly 2 million Hours Watched.

Omega Group audience numbers differ slightly from those of LOCK//IN’s first group. Peak and average viewership dropped by about 8% during the event’s second phase. The Hours Watched metric experienced the most drastic decline. Whereas the Alpha Group gathered over 17 million HW, the Omega Group had nearly 14% less. 

Omega Group’s lower viewership performance isn’t surprising. Sentinels’ massive fandom, fuelled by tarik’s co-stream, could have attracted many viewers. This potential already showed in the team’s first match versus Fnatic. It became the most popular one in its group and the second most-watched among all LOCK//IN games. Unfortunately, Sentinels was knocked out in the same match, turning its followers away from the tournament.

Similarly, ZETA DIVISION created considerable excitement within the Japanese Valorant community. After their first game against Leviatán, ZETA was one of the most popular teams of LOCK//IN. We can assume that the squad’s early elimination made some Japanese fans lose interest in the tournament.

How does VCT 2023: LOCK//IN compare to previous VCT events?

  VCT LOCK//IN's viewership numbers can compete with other VCT events.  

VCT 2023: LOCK//IN is keeping up with previous VCT events regarding viewership. So far, the tournament has garnered nearly 32 million Hours Watched during its 85 Airtime. This is around 5 million HW more than VCT 2022: Stage 1 Masters Reykjavik, which had a similar total AT. However, LOCK//IN continues to gain HW as it progresses.

The situation is similar regarding the event’s peak viewership. The Quarterfinal between NRG and LOUD attracted over 880,000 Peak Viewers, about 100,000 more than VCT 2022: Stage 2 Masters Copenhagen. Still, LOCK//IN’s viewership peak doesn’t come close to the over 1 million PV of VCT 2022: Stage Masters Reykjavik and the about 1.5 million of VALORANT Champions 2022. With LOCK//IN’s Finals still ahead of us, this might change.

In terms of Average Viewers, LOCK//IN sits in the middle between Masters Reykjavik at nearly 320,000 AV and Masters Copenhagen at almost 420,000. With over 370,000 AV, it’s far behind the nearly 530,000 AV tuning into VALORANT Champions 2022. VCT LOCK//IN might be the biggest international Valorant tournament thus far, but it hasn’t matched the legacy of 2022’s final event. Perhaps LOCK//IN’s format and early date dampened the hype for Valorant fans. Moreover, Valorant enthusiasts are more likely to be active during Masters and Champion events later this year.

VCT 2023: LOCK//IN continues on March 2 at 5 pm GMT+0. The first Semifinals of the event will be a BO5 between fan favorite LOUD and Korean team DRX. NAVI versus Fantic follows on March 3. Then, it’s only one day until we find out who will win the first VCT event of the year. With such high-stakes games approaching, LOCK//IN might be able to attract more Valorant fans than any Masters event.