With a new LEC season comes new statistics, but 2024 has one set of statistics that have caught the eyes of the industry and fans alike; Viewership.

With the entry into the LEC of Karmine Corp and MAD Lions Acquiring KOI and Movistar Riders comes fanbases led by some of the largest live streamers on Twitch.tv, Frenchman Kamel "Kameto" Kebir and Spaniard Ibai Llanos Garatea respectively. These streamers are massive in their respective nations and have had teams competing in their respective European Regional Leagues for the past few years.

Viewership records crushed

During this weekends’ LEC Winter Split, the culmination of an offseason with a noticeable rise in hype and anticipation than in recent offseasons, the inevitable first showdown between Karmine Corp and MAD Lions KOI took place, inevitably the massive fan bases would tune in to watch their team’s game.

This game smashed the previous regular season viewership record of 644,501 set by Karmine Corp vs G2 Esports which was also set this weekend, by just under 100,000, with an estimated total peak viewership of 741,450 according to viewership stats website Esportscharts.com.

The viewership record being broken multiple times this weekend shows how record breaking this year has been for the LEC, and this is only the first week. Compared to last years’ Winter Split opening weekend, 2024’s edition recorded a 46% increase in peak viewers and a 26% increase in average viewers, as reported by Esports Charts on X.

No doubt this was due to Riot’s new changes to their LEC co-streaming model, with the remodelling of their studio, booths were set up for co-streamers to stream in person, allowing fans to experience the hype with their favourite content creator.

Notably Kameto and Ibai were among those invited to co-stream, resulting in a peak viewership for them of 185,222 and 225,817 respectively according to Streamscharts.com. Absolutely eye-watering numbers that show how passionate French and Spanish fans can be.

Overall Viewership is up too

It is not just the teams owned by influencers that are experiencing the rise in viewership. The LEC in general has seen a much higher average viewership this weekend.

Compared to the 2023 LEC Finals last August & September which had an average viewership of 244,547, the 2024 LEC Winter Split Week 1 has seen an average viewership of 406,479, a massive 66% increase.

While this is no doubt due to this being the first competitive League of Legends of the 2024 season, it is very promising for the LEC ecosystem as a whole as more viewership means more potential for growth in an industry that has been struggling over the previous year.