According to Esports Charts, the first match of the Ligue Française de League of Legends (LFL) hit 180 thousand peak viewers on the first match of the 2022 season. During the matchup between Karmine Corp and Misfits Premier, where Karmine Corp pulled out the win, lots of fans tuned in. This was Martin “Rekkles” Larsson’s debut in the LFL for the winning team Karmine Corp.
180K Peak Viewers on 1st match of #LFL 2022 – @KarmineCorp vs @MisfitsGG. @OTP_LoL
📊 LIVE stats of #LFL Springhttps://t.co/JzfHV0OTvg
— Esports Charts 🇺🇦 (@EsportsCharts) January 12, 2022
A LFL viewer benchmark
The LFL, simply known as the French region of League of Legends, is one of the many European regions. Other minor European regions include the Spanish LVP Superliga, European Masters and the Polish Ultraliga. All three of those regions are tiers below the League of Legends European Championship, the major league for European players. So when, over the 2021-22 offseason, players such as Rekkles moved to the LFL, it sparked more interest. European fans who mainly stuck to the LEC now had to stretch their knowledge of French to understand the casters’ comments on the gameplay. Even then, watching well-played competitive esports is something that players and fans of all languages can understand.
With over 180 thousand fans tuning in to watch Rekkles’ first match, these numbers were similar to the LFL Summer 2021Â at its peak during the regular season. Considering that it took months for LFL in 2021 to peak at 180k, it shows potential for a record-breaking year for the LFL.
Comparing viewership to other regions in 2022
In comparison to other regions in League of Legends, the LFL is still a smaller region. For example, for the starts of regions such as League of Legends Champions Korea, they’ve already hit just under 475 thousand peak viewers. LCK is arguably one of the largest minor regions, so comparing the LFL to the LVP SL is more fitting. At the start of their 2022 season, the LVP SL hit 195 thousand peak viewers. Much like the LFL, LVP SL’s peak was during a popular match in the region, between KOI and Barça eSports.
Only time will tell whether the LFL will continue its upward climb in viewers for 2022 and onward.
