Riot Games Fails To Bring In Viewers For LCS Monday Night League

With 2020 set to be the greatest year in esports history,  Riot Games might want to readjust to a few things before moving forward in future endeavors.

Their brand new Monday Night League has not had the amount of viewership that many had speculated that it would. Plus, since it is only two weeks into the 2020 LCS Spring Split, there is some legitimate doubt that fan interest can bounce back their way.

The numbers don’t lie here, with the last couple of back to back MNL broadcasts underperforming significantly. The LCS' Monday night broadcast only had a peak viewership count of 73,000 but dwindled throughout the event. It evened out at an average daily viewership at around 46,000.

The 2020 #LCS Spring Split standings at the end of week two!

(1) #C9WIN (4-0)
(2) #DIGWIN (3-1)
(-) #FLYWIN (3-1)
(4) #100WIN (2-2)
(-) #IMTWIN (2-2)
(-) #TLWIN (2-2)
(-) #TSMWIN (2-2)
(8) #EGWIN (1-3)
(-) #GGWIN (1-3)
(10) #CLGWIN (0-4)

— LCS (@LCSOfficial) February 4, 2020

So where can Riot Games go from here? This drop is seemingly cataclysmic compared to the weekend’s set of games. Just last week, the viewership numbers peaked between 158,000 on Saturday and around 150,000 on Sunday, Feb. 2. Saturday and Sunday’s concurrent viewership also trumped the MNL’s. With Saturday reaching a total CCV of almost 100,000 viewers (while Sunday only made it to 86,000).

It should be noted that the Monday night times are very late for many European fans, which is another factor in MNL's underperformance. If they are to move forward in generating interest, they’ll have to reformat and reengage with viewers as well as the players in the league.

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