LPL Lags Behind LCK, Below VCS in Viewership
The 2024 season has been an extremely challenging period for the LPL region. The viewership for LPL matches has dropped significantly recently following a series of international defeats against teams from LCK. Furthermore, even LPL fans have to admit that the matches in this region have become increasingly boring and lack the necessary entertainment value.
Recently, the specialized site Esports Charts continued to “rub salt in the wounds” of LPL by releasing statistics on the highest viewership numbers of regions during the summer split. Accordingly, LCK continues to top the list with over 2.6 million peak views, demonstrating its immense appeal. The VCS, Vietnam’s top League of Legends tournament, ranked fourth with a peak viewership of 340 thousand. This figure is significantly higher than LPL, which only managed about 292 thousand peak views (this statistic does not include livestream platforms in LPL).
For LPL media, this is a very alarming statistic as it shows that international audiences are no longer interested in the teams from this region. “The reality shows that even fans in LPL are interested and follow the LCK tournament. Viewers from other regions are also keen on watching matches in LCK. Meanwhile, LPL lacks the appeal to attract international viewers due to its very low entertainment value,” Sohu commented candidly on the aforementioned statistics.
What Solutions Can Revive LPL and Compete with LCK?
Naturally, given its unique conditions, expecting LPL to have viewership numbers on par with LCK on platforms like Twitch or YouTube is unrealistic. However, if this tournament possesses high appeal, it could still maintain a certain viewer base and not have such poor viewership statistics. Nevertheless, as the competitive edge of LPL diminishes at present, it struggles to compete with other regions.
Indeed, when observing LPL over the past year, viewers can easily notice the overwhelming dominance of BLG compared to other teams. Even when BLG performs poorly, their opponents are not strong enough to capitalize and secure victories. Consequently, in both the LPL Summer and Spring 2024 splits, BLG “single-handedly” marched straight to the championship without facing much difficulty. Clearly, in a tournament where viewers can predict the champion before it even starts, it loses much of its excitement.
Perhaps to improve the situation quickly, LPL teams must perform well and achieve high results in the upcoming 2024 World Championship. That would serve as motivation for the entire tournament to develop and increase the necessary competitiveness of a top league like LPL. Should they continue to fail, it is not excluded that LPL will further “decline” in the 2025 season.