VCT EMEA League week one breaks VALORANT regional peak viewership record

VALORANT VCT EMEA
Image credit: Riot Games

VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT)’s inaugural EMEA League has recorded a peak viewership of 278,315 and an average viewership of 136,945 in its opening week.

The most viewed match-up of the first week was between Turkish organisation BBL Esports and French team Karmine Corp on day three, according to statistics gathered by Esports Charts.

Despite only featuring one week of matches, VCT EMEA League has already surpassed VALORANT’s previous regional peak viewership. This was garnered during VCT 2022 EMEA Stage 1 Challengers (241,246) when Fnatic faced M3 Champions in the playoffs.

VCT EMEA’s figures are also higher than its international competitor — VCT Pacific League — which recorded 228,339 peak viewers and an average viewership of 125,260 during its opening week. VALORANT’s third international competition, VCT Americas League, is set to commence on April 1st. 

When looking at VCT EMEA’s regional viewership, both Turkish and Spanish language platforms recorded over 110,000 peak viewers throughout the opening week. The former figure was during BBL Esports’ clash, whereas the Spanish number was recorded when NAVI faced off against KOI. 

The clash between the Ukrainian team and Ibai’s esports organisation also recorded an impressive peak viewership of 269,997, with these figures highlighting the significance of VCT’s Spanish and Turkish fanbase. The peak viewership for English language platforms was 94,950.

As part of VALORANT’s 2023 esports ecosystem, VCT EMEA League’s partner teams will be competing for spots at two international events: VCT Masters Tokyo and VCT Champions in Los Angeles

Due to Fnatic being victorious at VCT LOCK//IN, the game’s first international event under its new structure, the EMEA region will have four qualifying places for the Masters Tokyo event.

VCT EMEA League’s commercial partners include Prime Gaming, Red Bull, Logitech and Aim Lab, among others. The event forms part of the wider VCT structure that was overhauled ahead of this season.

Tom Daniels
Tom has been part of Esports Insider's team since October 2020 and is currently the platform's Editor. When not playing Football Manager, he enjoys reporting on the mobile esports scene as well as the betting sector.