Low viewership shadows KT Rolster’s Worlds 2025 semifinal run

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The first semifinal lineup is set, and one thing is already clear: a Korean team will appear in the Worlds 2025 grand final. After Gen.G, KT Rolster clinched their spot by sweeping CTBC Flying Oyster, one of the tournament’s biggest underdogs. The matchup, however, fell short of expectations, and viewer interest reflected that: it ranked in the lower half of the event’s top 20 matches by peak viewership.

KT Rolster remain unbeaten: after three straight wins in the group stage, they swept their quarterfinal opponent without dropping a single map. CFO, meanwhile, still earned plenty of respect despite the loss: they’re the first Taiwanese team in a decade to reach the Worlds playoffs, and the first in nine years to do so from outside Europe, North America, Korea or mainland China.

The match and its viewership data told a clear story: KT Rolster continue to struggle in attracting large audiences. Their quarterfinal against CFO recorded a 40% drop in both peak and average viewership compared to the first quarterfinal, underscoring the team’s relatively limited fan appeal.

The decline spanned nearly all demographics but was most pronounced among Korean viewers: the Gen.G vs Hanwha Life Esports series reached up to 725,000 Korean viewers, while this time the Korean-language peak barely topped 200,000, missing the day’s top three languages. Overall, the match barely made it into the tournament’s top 20 by peak viewership, a pattern consistent with KT’s other games at Worlds 2025.

KT Rolster will now face Gen.G for a place in the tournament’s grand final, with their semifinal match set for Saturday, November 1, at 08:00 CET.

Worlds continues tomorrow with the third quarterfinal, where G2 Esports will take on Top Esports: the Chinese team won their previous best-of-one encounter in the group stage. Follow the tournament and its viewership trends on Esports Charts.