League of Legends’ European Regional Leagues (ERLs) have undergone significant viewership increases throughout 2022, according to statistics by esports viewership analytics platform Esports Charts.
The most popular ERL this year was LVP’s Spanish competition Superliga which garnered a peak viewership of 282,566 during its Spring split clash between KOI and Heretics. This is a significant increase from 2021’s figures, with the competition recording 50,002 and 73,006 peak viewership in Spring and Summer 2021, respectively.
According to Esports Charts, Superliga’s 2022 Summer split did record a slightly lower peak viewership of 205,240 (G2 Artic vs KOI). However, its average concurrent viewership of 46,987 highlights how much the league has grown over the last 12 months. The competition’s tournament organiser, LVP, announced that the Superliga 2022 Summer Split recorded 11m accumulated viewers between its official channel and co-streaming.
Given that the highest viewed match-up featured Team Heretics, which recently purchased Misfits’ LEC franchise, and KOI, a team rumoured to be buying an LEC spot, it’ll be interesting to see if this momentum continues in 2023.
Perhaps one of the best-known League of Legends regional competitions is France’s LFL. Despite not recording the highest viewed ERL match-up, the league has still continued to grow in prominence. Similarly to KOI, Karmine Corp was featured in the highest-viewed matches for both 2022 Spring and Summer Splits.
Once again it was the Spring season that garnered the highest figure for the LFL: 221,118 during a match between Solary and Karmine Corp.
The average concurrent viewership of 65,085 and 47,978 for Spring and Summer 2022 respectively is an increase from 47,521 (Spring 2021) and 37,913 (Summer 2021). Both LFL peak viewerships in 2022 recorded above 200,000 viewers, which is higher than 2021.
The LFL and Superliga are primarily seen as the two dominant ERLs within League of Legends’ ecosystem, due to competitive success and also an array of notable brands sponsoring the scene. However, some of the scene’s other competitions have also shown signs of increased popularity.
Germany’s Prime League garnered peak viewerships of 79,317 and 45,528 for Spring and Summer respectively. This is significantly up from figures of 23,195 and 40,148 that were recorded last year. Meanwhile, 2022 saw the Prime League reach over 10,000 average concurrent viewers for the first time. The league’s growth can likely be partially credited to popular German organisation Eintracht Spandau joining the ecosystem. However, the league also has notable names such as Schalke04 Esports and Unicorns of Love.
In the Nordics, UK, Ireland and Isle of Man, League of Legends’ NLC also showed signs of growth, particularly in Summer 2022 which recorded a peak viewership of 14,023 (between X7 Esports and JD EXCEL). The NLC is still regarded as one of the least popular ‘tier 1’ ERLs. Nevertheless, its average concurrent viewership of 3,822 is still an increase from last split’s figures of 1,524 (Spring) and 2,073 (Summer).
Finally, AGO Rogue vs Zero Tenacity was the highest viewed match-up in Poland’s UltraLiga, recording 20,504 during its recent season. This is the only regional league that failed to beat its previous viewership records, with 2021’s clash between K1CK and AGO Rogue garnering higher viewership (23,712). Moreover, the competition’s average viewership dropped in 2022 compared to 2021 across both of its Splits.
Despite this, overall it seems that regional League of Legends is continuing to grow in popularity. With European Masters — the ERL’s premier European event — commencing tomorrow, it’s worth keeping an eye on whether the tournament beats its previous record of 377,531 in Spring 2021.
With the absence of Karmine Corp, KOI and Eintracht Spandau, this year’s European Masters viewership will be certainly interesting from both a competitive and viewership standpoint.
