The VCT 2025 Pacific Kickoff and VCT Americas Kickoff have recorded decreasing peak viewership figures in their first week of action.
According to esports data platform Esports Charts, the series between T1 and Paper Rex peaked at 374,211, much lower than last year’s record of 462,603 (ZETA vs T1, Group Stage day three).
For VCT Americas, the first week reached a maximum viewership of 352,904 during the KRÜ Esports and LOUD series. This was over 200,000 lower than LOUD’s opening week clash with Sentinals last season (590,312). It is important to note that Sentinels and LOUD are two of VCT Americas’ most popular teams.
The average viewership for VCT Pacific was over 180,000 across the first week, with several matches reaching over 200,000 peak viewers. DetonatioN FocusMe and Rex Regum Qeon were the second most-watched games, reaching 269,497 viewers, followed by the series between Nongshim and ZETA Divison (257,138 viewers).
In particular, ZETA’s streamer Koji ‘Laz’ Ushida heavily contributed to the team’s viewership, achieving over 50,000 viewers on his own stream, further signalling the rising trend of co-streaming in esports competitions.
That being said, the current edition of the VCT Pacific Kickoff is still quite far off from the statistics reached in 2024. Alongside the event’s peak viewership during day three last year, two other matches also exceeded the 400,000 mark during week one.
In the VCT Americas, LOUD continues to show its influence in driving viewership numbers, locking the two most-watched series in week one. In the 2024 edition of the VCT Kickoff, the team took part in four of the five most-watched series, including the Grand Final match against Sentinels which saw over 800,000 people tune in.
VCT Pacific features some of Asia’s most influential organisations such as T1 and Gen.G as well as notable SEA teams like Team Secret and Paper Rex. For this year’s competition, Nongshim RedForce earned its spot through the Ascension tournament and BOOM Esports replaced Bleed Esports after the latter failed to comply with critical reporting requirements under Riot Games’ TPA.
VCT Americas, on the other hand, saw the promotion of 2Game Esports to the tier-one competition, with G2 Esports maintaining its spot for the current year.
One change that could have impacted VCT Kickoff’s opening viewership this year is its new format. Instead of having a Group Stage which goes into a playoff bracket, VCT’s first event of 2025 sees all 12 teams compete in a double-elimination bracket featuring BO3s and BO5s.
There are four Kickoff events in total, one across each region (Americas, EMEA, Pacific, and China), with the top two teams of each Kickoff event qualifying for VALORANT’s first international tournament of the 2025 season, VCT Masters Bangkok.
The international event is set to start next month and will grant VCT points to qualify for VALORANT Champions in Paris later this year.
