After the turmoil of the LCSPA players’ walkout, the 2023 LCS Summer Split finally began on June 14. While fans of the North American competition can peacefully enjoy their favorite teams competing, the viewership numbers are far from satisfying.
The first match of the 2023 LCS Summer Split between last split’s champions Cloud9 and runner-ups Golden Guardians recorded only 77,000 peak viewers, according to Esports Charts’ tweet from June 15 (although, their website claims 82,874 peak viewers). Either way, that’s around 100,000 fewer than the first match of the 2023 LCS Spring Split, which saw C9 face 100 Thieves.
Additionally, no other match from June 14 had more viewers than C9 and GG’s series. Immortals taking on Dignitas gained the interest of the fewest viewers, with only 73,484 people watching during the peak, according to Esports Charts.
Despite these being the results of the first day only, it follows a worrying trend of LCS viewership dropping from split to split. The most-watched game in the 2023 LCS Spring Split was the grand final between C9 and GG, which attracted 271,376 peak viewers. In the 2022 LCS Summer Split, though, the most-watched game was also the final between C9 and 100 Thieves, which boasted 370,178 peak viewers, according to Esports Charts.
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While we expect the 2023 LCS Summer Split to boast higher numbers as it gets going, especially when it reaches playoffs, these poor results are also a possible outcome of the LCSPA players’ walkout. The situation delayed the start of the split by two weeks and could have resulted in certain viewers’ loss of interest in the competition as a whole.
