VCS viewership takes a step backwards amid further struggles with the league’s competitive integrity
VCS, Vietnam’s official League of Legends regional circuit, reached its height of 333.4K Peak Viewers just as the pandemic hit in 2020. Viewership for the league faced an immediate downturn after the record, and the league has been slowly rebuilding its viewership since. However, another blow struck the regional circuit when the VCS announced the Week 8 matches would be postponed, and the matches played on March 14 were declared null and void.
The announcement came at the worst time for the VCS, as it had reached 230K Peak Viewers last year, marking the highest it had seen in a couple of years. Just as the league is beginning to find its footing and build momentum, the remaining Week 8 matches have been postponed due to “unexpected reasons”, and an investigation into all 8 participating teams was announced.
The VCS is yet to confirm exactly what transpired during the VCS Spring 2024 or which teams are involved if not all of them, but as of now, only the matches held on March 14, the beginning of Week 8, have been declared void. The Week 7 standings will determine the order for the split’s Playoffs seeding, however, there is no news on when the split’s playoffs will even take place. The split’s winner qualifies for the Mid-Season Invitational, and any further delays will surely negatively impact the team’s preparation time for the international event.
VCS Spring 2024 Viewership Statistics
The viewership for the ongoing Spring 2024 split is down across the board compared to the previous Dawn 2023 split, with a 30% drop in watch time and an 11.6% drop in average viewership. The VCS Spring 2024 recorded 2.266M Hours Watched throughout its first 6 weeks of matches and 24.9K Average Viewers.
In terms of peak viewership, the most popular match was the Week 5 game between GAM Esports and Team Whales, which received 86.3K Peak Viewers. The two teams were the region’s representatives at last year’s World Championship, but their match received 19.4% fewer concurrent viewers than the Dawn split’s most popular match of the first six weeks.
The current season therefore marks the second year in a row that the VCS has had its reputation marred by comprised competitive integrity, and it is yet to be confirmed how many teams within the league are involved. The VCS never officially announced the exact reasons for SBTC’s expulsion, but perhaps the ongoing investigation will shed light on what is occurring within the league.
At last year's Worlds event, Vietnamese-language audiences were integral in the league reaching an esports record. The tournament reached 6.4M Peak Viewers for its Grand Final match, and more than 805K concurrent Vietnamese-language viewers contributed to this peak. The tournament recorded a 177.4% increase in Vietnamese-language watch time, and it stands as a testament to the potential of the audience for League of Legends esports events.
2023 marked a year of growth for the VCS, as the regional circuit’s growth mirrored the growth of the Vietnamese audiences on the international stage. However, the recent scandals marring the league’s integrity have perhaps harmed viewership. Vietnamese audiences are clearly interested in and supportive of League of Legends esports, but the VCS still has to find the correct methods to reach and utilise the full potential of this demographic.
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