The LFL Winter 2025 season recorded modest viewership numbers as Karmine Corp Blue claim second title

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Karmine Corp Blue, the French powerhouse, continues to dominate the regional LFL league. Last week, they secured the LFL Winter 2025 championship — their second LFL title since the main team moved to the prestigious LEC league.

Karmine Corp Blue was the league’s leading media force, topping the standings, viewership numbers, and total watch hours. However, despite their success, the viewership for LFL Winter 2025 didn’t match the early buzz of the previous year. In the end, it couldn’t reach half the peak viewership of the record-holding LFL Spring 2024.

The most popular channel covering LFL Winter 2025 matches was that of French streamer Kamel ‘’Kameto’’ Kebir, co-owner of Karmine Corp. The popular content creator’s channel nearly doubled the average viewership per match of otplol_, the official league channel. However, it's important to note that both community caster channels and official league channels saw a sharp decline in audience reach compared to the previous season.

This drop in viewership can be traced back to the early exits of high-profile teams like Gentle Mates and Joblife, owned by popular streamers Corentin ‘’Gotaga’’ Houssein and Toma ‘’JLTomy’’ Abdellaoui, respecitvely. These teams have a strong fanbase, thanks to the streamers frequently broadcasting their matches. But in the LFL Winter 2025 season, both Gentle Mates and Joblife were quickly eliminated, and the streamers became less active. Gotaga, for example, didn’t stream any of his team’s games, and JLTomy managed only about 9 hours of broadcasts.

Although Gentle Mates and Joblife didn’t make the top 5 by the season's end, they still topped the list of the most popular matches, alongside Karmine Corp. These three teams also lead the ranking for the season’s most popular teams based on average viewership.

Most popular LFL tournaments by Peak Viewers

The final viewership statistics for LFL Winter 2025 fell short of expectations — the league ranked 10th among all LFL seasons, and also all regional leagues at the start of this season. Compared to LFL Spring 2024, peak online viewership dropped by 52.5%, and the average viewership fell by 23.1%.

Another factor contributing to the decline in viewership is the shift in audience focus from the regional LFL league to the LEC. Since Karmine Corp joined the top European league, viewers have been more interested in following the main team, while the academy team’s performance has become less of a priority.

Karmine Corp Blue earned a spot in the EMEA Masters Winter 2025, which will be held online from March 17 to 23. The French team will compete against the winners of all other EMEA regional leagues. You can follow the tournament action on the Esports Charts coverage page.