2019 was a record year for League of Legends. Never before have more fans followed the games. Let’s take a look at which teams were particularly popular in Europe and North America last year: These are the largest and most popular teams.
Which teams were particularly popular in 2019? Based purely on the viewer numbers of league matches in the LEC and LCS, according to Esports Charts:
- The European team Fnatic was the most popular LoL team here in the West. Their games in the LEC had an average of 262,000 viewers.
- In second place is G2 Esports with 256,000 average viewers.
- In third place sits Team Liquid, the first team from the LCS.
People Watch Winners
What stands out: The three most popular teams are also the most successful teams nationally and internationally in recent years. The viewer numbers are on the side of the winners.
In Europe, G2 Esports and Fnatic are clearly dominant. Both teams have been vying for the LEC champion title for almost a decade. Between 2013 and 2019, either one or the other team won 15 out of 16 championships. In 2019, G2 Esports was more successful and even made it to the World Finals, yet Fnatic remains ahead.
In the USA, Team Solo Mid was considered “the biggest team” in 2017, having won 6 championships by then. Since 2018, however, TSM has handed over the favorite status to Team Liquid, which has been successful with a new team in the last two years and won 4 championships. Before 2018, Team Liquid was seen as a laughingstock in the USA, according to their own star Doublelift – that has changed.
It is striking in the statistics that more fans in the West follow the European teams than the American ones. In total, 7 teams from the LEC and only 3 teams from the LCS made it into the Top 10.
G2 eSports is the big winner of 2019
How does the development compare to the previous year? Last year, Fnatic clearly dominated the global ranking, which also includes the Worlds and looked at viewing duration rather than viewer counts.
Nevertheless, it is evident that Fnatic lost viewers due to the failure in 2018, the departure of midlaner Caps, and the performance in 2019.
In the 2018 ranking, Cloud9 was also in second place, ahead of G2 Esports, SKT1, and Team Liquid. That has changed in 2019 as well.
Numbers are made up of Livestream Viewers
Where do the numbers come from? The numbers come from Esports Charts, a website that analyzes livestream viewers. For this statistic, the average number of viewers for matches of the respective teams was compared.
The website accesses data from over 150,000 different livestreams from various platforms.
Why do the numbers differ from those of Riot Games? Esports Charts evaluates only the livestreams for which they have access to statistics. Therefore, Chinese viewers are excluded from all the data. Additionally, any broadcasts outside of livestreams or on TV are not recorded.
2019 – A Year of Records for LoL
How did 2019 go for LoL? Compared to the previous year, significantly more fans watched the LoL European Championship in 2019. During the Summer Split, a record for the league was set with almost 840,000 viewers at peak, according to Esports Charts.
The big record for LoL was however set at the Worlds 2019, when almost 4 million people simultaneously followed the match between SKT1 and G2 Esports. This match is currently the most viewed esports event ever.
LoL also set a new record on Twitch. There, the final between G2 Esports and FunPlus Phoenix achieved the highest concurrent viewer count on the platform.
Riot Games itself also reports a record. At peak, 44 million people simultaneously tuned into the LoL Worlds 2019, when all available channels are included. Never before have so many people watched a world championship.
However, 2019 was a successful year for the game itself as well. With the new game mode Teamfight Tactics, LoL was able to increase player numbers by 33% and become the most popular game on PC.
What can we expect in 2020? This year could indeed see viewer counts rise again. Many interesting transfers have been made that could make the American LCS particularly exciting.
The LoL star Faker plans to make a comeback in the Worlds 2020 in Shanghai and win a title. Whether he will succeed may also depend on a special factor.
Additionally, League of Legends plans to release a mobile and console version with Wild Rift. The beta for it is expected to launch in 2020, but with significantly fewer champions than on PC. The release is also planned for this year:
