Week 1 of the newly franchised LEC drew 396,286 peak viewers during Fnatic vs SK. This is over a 50% increase from 2018 EU LCS Spring, which peaked at 255,120
Comparatively, NA LCS's first franchised week drew 401,560 peak viewers, basically even with Spring 2017's week 1 peak of 393,852
This is absolutely massive for EU. EU has virtually never had higher or equal regular season viewership compared to NA. HOWEVER, note that EU LCS almost always has higher viewed finals, particularly when Fnatic plays.
What to watch for next week.
NA LCS's viewership next week will be very telling. In my opinion the results can tell us one of three things.
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If NA peaks around 400k, it probably means that the LEC hype was the main reason for higher viewership in Europe. I think this is the most likely outcome. This is very good for LEC because it means enthusiasm brought in new viewers. It would be important to retain LEC's new viewers, however. We could still see LEC peak below 250k throughout the season if the hype is not sustained.
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If NA peaks around 500k, it probably means that League's supposed recent resurgence is real. This is good for everyone basically. The hope would be to see both LEC and LCS peak 300k plus every week.
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If NA peaks below ~375k, it means viewership is further stagnating in NA. This could mean that less Europeans are watching NA LCS, and are instead watching LEC exclusively. In other words, LEC is winning back its own fans from NA. This is likely the main reason LCS has had higher viewership all these years.
All stats are taken from esportscharts,
