LCK Road to MSI, the league’s playoff stage before the 2025 Mid-Season Invitational, is currently the most-watched League of Legends esports event of the year.
According to data company Esports Charts, the qualifying series between T1 and Hanwha Life Esports (HLE) peaked at 1,965,776, narrowly beating the most-watched series of the LCK Cup (1,907,634), which featured the same teams.
The 2025 peak number, however, is still far from the 2.6m recorded in the LCK 2024 Spring Split, the highest record the league has achieved so far. Average viewership for Road to MSI was 752,208, although the number didn’t account for the stats from the regular season, following the unification of the entire LCK Season.
Nevertheless, it’s a clear sign that the LCK continues to be the most popular league in the world, which boasts an average of over 337,000 viewers so far in 2025, according to Esports Charts (excluding Chinese viewers). The LCK was the most popular on YouTube with over half a million peak viewers, although co-streaming continues to stay popular with the presence of key esports personalities such as Caedrel, IWillDominate and more.
T1 is the Ultimate Viewership Booster
In surprising fashion, T1 dominated favourites HLE in a 3-0 series, locking in the second spot for Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), marking the fourth consecutive appearance for the most decorated League of Legends team in the world.
Despite the one-sided result, the numbers continue to prove how T1 is the biggest driver in increasing viewership for the LCK and esports in general. The two most-watched series in the Road to MSI were the series played by Faker and his team, and the five top series in terms of viewership from the LCK season so far all featured T1.
With T1 making it to the second international tournament of the year, the viewership numbers are expected to be higher, especially if the team were to make a deep run in the competition. The 2024 world champions will be heading to Vancouver, Canada, for the start of the tournament, which is scheduled for June 27th.
