North American powerhouse TSM and giant-slayers G2 were the most popular League of Legends teams based on average viewers for the 2020 LCS and LEC Spring Split, according to EsportsCharts.
The LEC Spring Split reached new heights this year with the continuation of G2 and Fnatic’s dominance paired with the new European talent put on display. This led to the LEC overtaking the LCS in terms of peak viewership this year and retaining the lead in average viewers across the season.
G2 proved to be the most popular team of the LEC Spring Split following their second-place finish at Worlds 2019 and their emphatic dominance in Europe, cementing themselves as one of the best teams in the game.
G2 vs. Fnatic was, by far, the most popular match of the Spring Split. The clash of the titans accumulated 817,397 peak viewers across all platforms, with a 545,892 peak on Twitch. Although this was G2’s most popular match in terms of peak viewership, the European powerhouse was featured across the top five most-viewed matches of the entire split, with Fnatic and MAD Lions appearing three times and twice, respectively.
The LCS, on the other hand, couldn’t match expectations. TSM were the most popular team of the Spring Split, edging eventual Spring Split victors Cloud9 by only a few thousand average viewers. North American giants and 2019 LCS Spring Split winners Team Liquid were nowhere to be found.
The LCS Spring Split regular-season matchup between TSM and Immortals was the most popular game with a peak viewership of 387,299 viewers. This is significantly lower than the 599,904 peak viewership of last year’s most-popular match, which was the Spring Split final between TSM and Team Liquid. The decline of North American League at the international and regional level could have been one reason behind the low viewership.
The ongoing concerns surrounding COVID-19 caused the LCS and LEC Spring Split finals to be played online, which was likely another reason for the decline in peak viewership.
But if Liquid manage to get back to the top and Cloud9 can prove themselves on the international stage, the LCS’ viewership could increase. For now, though, Europe reigns supreme.
