![\"Sentinels](\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/53940893617_4c2e645835_c.jpg\")
VCT Kickoff 2025<\/strong> drew in VALORANT fans from all over the world \u2014 but one region’s Kickoff had far and away the most viewers. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
The first tournament series of this year\u2019s VALORANT Champions Tour calendar, VCT Kickoff took place from January 11th to February 9th across four regional leagues: EMEA, Americas, Pacific and China. With all regions now concluded Esports Insider is looking at which event was the most popular among viewers and how it compare to last year\u2019s Kickoff.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
- \n
- Team Vitality wins IEM Katowice and VCT EMEA Kickoff in the same weekend<\/a><\/li>\n
- G2 Esports crowned 2025 VCT Americas Kickoff champions<\/a><\/li>\n
- DRX defeats T1 to win 2025 VCT Pacific Kickoff<\/a><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n \n
VCT China, which was added in 2024, stands out due to its early start, ending ahead of all other regions. 2024 Championship winner Edward Gaming secured this year\u2019s Kickoff trophy in a best-of-five (BO5) series against Trace Esports on January 25th.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nAccording to esports data platform Esports Charts, VCT China appeared to have the lowest viewership by far, with the site reporting just 63,467 peak viewers<\/a> during the Lower Bracket Quarterfinals between EDG and XLG Esports. It is important to note, however, that Esports Charts does not track audience numbers in China, where most of the region\u2019s fans are located.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nVCT EMEA and Pacific saw relatively similar popularity to one another, with 334,145<\/a> and 380,345<\/a> peak viewers respectively.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nThe most watched series in Pacific was the Lower Bracket elimination match between XLG Esports and popular team Paper Rex. Interestingly, in the EMEA counterpart, the match debuting Apeks and Gentle Mates\u2019 new rosters attracted the highest audience numbers. This is most likely due to the highly anticipated opening performance of the first female player in tier-1 VCT, Apeks\u2019 member Ava \u2018florescent\u2019 Eugene.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nIn terms of total watch hours, different rosters dominated the two leagues. Korean organisation T1 (4.6m watch hours) was most popular in Pacific, while Team Liquid (3.9m) took the spotlight in EMEA.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nVCT Americas\u2019 viewership is the clear leader this year, recording 553,842 peak viewers<\/a>. The top-performing series was the Playoffs Lower Bracket Final between Brazilian team MIBR and Sentinels. This comes as no surprise since Sentinels has always been a fan favourite within the VALORANT community, with 6m watch hours generated during Kickoff 2025. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nMoreover, MIBR (6m hours watched) gained significant popularity since the signing of Championship-winning athlete Erick \u2018aspas\u2019 Santos ahead of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nVCT Kickoff Viewership: 2025 Vs. 2024<\/span><\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nAlthough VCT Americas also saw the most viewership among the Kickoff 2024<\/a> regions, this year\u2019s audience numbers are notably lower. Last year\u2019s Kickoff Grand Final between Sentinels and LOUD was watched by 823,008 peak viewers<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nAlthough this viewership difference is most apparent in Americas, this trend applies to all other VCT regions. For instance, 419,206<\/a> fans tuned into the 2024 Playoffs Semifinals between Fnatic and Karmine Corp. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\n \nPossible explanations for the viewership decline are the retirement of VALORANT veterans and the signing of star players by less popular organisations. This includes an intense viewership decline in Japan after the country’s star player, Koji ‘Laz’ Ushida, retired. Additionally, several teams with smaller fan bases had advanced to late tournament stages in the regions, potentially affecting Playoffs and Grand Finals viewership.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Image Credit: Colin Young-Wolff\/Riot Games VCT Kickoff 2025 drew in VALORANT fans from all over the world \u2014 but one region’s Kickoff had far and away the most viewers. The first tournament series of this year\u2019s VALORANT Champions Tour calendar, VCT Kickoff took place from January 11th to February 9th across four regional leagues: EMEA, … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":166717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","esi_template":"default","excluded":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,55,106,8723],"tags":[18600,2104,7391,8846,20370,20369],"class_list":["post-166687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events-calendar-news","category-esports-titles","category-latest-news","category-valorant","tag-apeks","tag-esports-viewership","tag-sentinels","tag-valorant-esports","tag-vct-kickoff","tag-vct-kickoff-2025"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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