2024 LEC season achieved higher viewership than the 2023 iteration across all major metrics

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The 2024 season for the European League of Legends circuit recently came to a close with the LEC Season Finals 2024. The event was the second iteration of the Season Finals, which was brought about by a format change, and saw the best teams of Europe battle it out for spots at this year’s World Championship. Despite the grand final featuring the exact same teams as last season’s finals, the 2024 edition reached 50,000 fewer concurrent viewers at peak, but higher viewership throughout the event.

The season-ending event brought 6 of the LEC’s top teams together to compete for 2 direct qualification spots at Worlds 2024, and one spot to the tournament’s Play-In stage. Ultimately, G2 Esports and Fnatic, two of the LEC’s most legendary organizations, earned the direct qualifications to Worlds, with G2 Esports taking a 3-1 victory in the grand final. MAD Lions KOI also have qualified to the Play-In stage, after being eliminated by G2 Esports in the lower bracket final. 

In total, the LEC Season Finals 2024 received 9.06M Hours Watched and maintained an average viewership of 290.6K concurrent fans. The event recorded a significant increase in average viewership compared to last year, partially due to increased attention for MAD Lions KOI, which was cheered on by founder and famed content creator Ibai in his Twitch broadcasts. 

Although average viewership was on the rise, this year’s finals were unable to match the peak recorded last year. The 2024 Season Finals received 606.2K Peak Viewers, roughly 50K fewer concurrent viewers than the 2023 finals achieved at its peak. This year’s event recorded a lower peak, despite hosting the exact same grand final match-up as last year, G2 Esports against Fnatic. In fact, the top four finishing places for this year remained the same compared to 2023.

The reason for the lower peak this year largely came down to viewership for official broadcasts. The LEC Twitch channel recorded a peak viewership less than half of what it managed last year, and French viewership on the otplol_ channel also suffered a similar drop. Interestingly, the LEC YouTube stream still recorded a negative dynamic, but far less drastic than the official Twitch broadcast: it seems that European viewers were more interested in watching the event through YouTube rather than Twitch this year.

In terms of the most popular channels to broadcast this year’s finals, of course Spanish creator ibai stood at the forefront of the event’s viewership. It would be abnormal for the broadcaster to not be the most popular broadcaster for the event, considering his 17.12M Twitch Followers. His coverage of MAD Lion KOI’s lower bracket final game against G2 Esports was the most popular stream of the entire Season Finals.

English-language streamer Caedrel was another popular community caster, recording a high peak viewership for the event’s grand final and for most matches in general. The English streamer was brought on by Fnatic to be their official caster for their League of Legends games, and he has ended the season as one of the most popular broadcasters overall for the European League of Legends circuit.

As it stands, the most popular matches of the 2024 LEC season were all recorded during the year’s first-ever event, the LEC Winter 2024. The tournament recorded especially high peaks, while hype and excitement were high during the year’s opening matches. Viewers largely came from Spain, supporting ibai’s MDK, but Karmine Corp was also the cause of large spikes in viewership. 

Fans of Karmine Corp’s founder Kamet0 allowed French-language statistics to rival the ever-dominant Spanish audience, but as the season progressed it became clear that Karmine Corp was not in a place to compete against the top teams in the LEC. As KC struggled to generate good results, French viewers became less enthusiastic about supporting the team. 

Viewership for this second iteration of the LEC Season Finals was lower than last year at peak, but more consistent and reliable throughout the overall event. Spanish-language viewership remains as important as ever for the LEC, and MAD Lions KOI’s attendance at the Worlds 2024 Play-In stage will ensure high viewership for the world championship event’s opening through ibai’s community casting. 

  Viewership comparison of the 2024 & 2023 LEC seasons  

Comparing this year’s LEC season directly to 2023’s, we can see a noticeable increase in viewership across both major metrics. The 2024 LEC season collected 80.14M Hours Watched in total across its four events. Not only did the 2024 season achieve a higher watch time overall, but each of the season’s four events managed to increase its average viewership compared to its previous 2023 iteration. 

G2 Esports appeared in both years’ most popular match, largely due to the team’s dominance having them appear constantly during grand finals, and their legacy also drawing in a sizeable European audience who follow the organization.