LTA North sees Large Viewership Drop from the LCS

The LTA has officially launched its inaugural season over in North America with the start of Split 1 of the LTA North Conference. Now that opening day of the new league has come and gone the results have been less than ideal, at least as far as viewership is concerned.

Though the LCS said goodbye to its fans in 2024 with an epic final showdown between FlyQuest and Team Liquid to draw 11 years of service to a close, the hype did not quite manage to carry over to the LTA North to kick things off.

LTA North sets off to dwindling numbers

Day 1 of the LTA North Split 1 saw a peak viewership of 148k during its opening match between FlyQuest and Shopify Rebellion. That constituted a close to 23% drop from the 191k peak viewers that tuned in to watch opening day of the LCS season in 2024.

Likewise, average viewership for the inauguration of the LTA North remained at 101k, representing another significant drop from the 116k viewers of Day 1 of the 2024 season.

Though the LTA North certainly didn’t benefit from a couple of one-sided matchups to start things off, the trend is a worrying one all the same. The new league is only just starting up, however, and perhaps fans will feel more inclined to tune in to the action once the LTA develops an identity with which viewers can begin to relate.

The LTA South does not disappoint

Meanwhile, on the other side, the LTA South actually saw a large increase in viewership during its grand opening. Day 1 of Split 1 the LTA South saw a peak viewership of 254k instead, or about an 18% increase from last year's numbers. For reference, the CBLOL 2024 season peaked at 215k during its opening day.

In all fairness, the LTA South does constitutes the official league for Brazil as well as the rest of South America now, which would help explain the rising numbers. Perhaps more importantly, however, contrary to what happened in the North Conference, the LTA South launched things off with an intense match between paiN Gaming and LOUD, two of Brazil’s most renowned esports organizations.

Despite all the possible explanations for the drop in viewers, though, the LTA North will not want to continue to fall behind and should be quick to try and correct course.

Once the first LTA cross-conference event comes around in February, however, expect the new league to see viewership numbers reach new heights by combining Brazilian passion and the historical superiority of North American teams for what will surely be an event to behold.

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Image source: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games

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