Why do people STOP WATCHING LCS? - I asked 4000 people

0:00 Video start
0:19 It feels like less people are watching LCS or losing interest
1:30 Why I decided to survey the audience
3:28 Methodology
4:50 Survey data starts showing
7:11 Discussion and Takeaways
9:41 Additonal survey results
10:25 Am I trying to push a narrative?

[RomnysGonzalez]

Having to wait like 30 minutes between games is such a painful experience

[applesapps]

As of right now watching the lcs is just tedious and time consuming. Mainly with just how long it takes for each game to start in between. I swear they have like a 40 minute break in between each games and its making me losing interest in watching the lcs live, so I ended up watching the vods on YouTube.

[nightmare_]

"too many roster changes"

this survey was done before the roster fiesta in summer split

[tsukiiharaa]

I stopped watching after watching more of the LEC. It feels like the LEC talent team has greater control over what happens in the show. The most apparent difference to me is in the broadcast of games. The LEC casters are often the ones dictating where the camera focuses outside of big fights - and the observers are excellent at following these cues and it feels like the casters are in control. Even small things like like casters having fun graphics they asked the team to prepare to appear mid game. With the LCS it often feels reactionary. LCS casters feel like they are a step behind the play outside of large team fights. The camera moves and then the casters talk. It obviously isn't this black and white but this is what I feel like as a viewer.

[tontontaik]

The LCS is lucky to have Travis covering these types of topics.

[studxmuffin]

After getting more into watching other regions like LPL and LCK it just feels lesser. It's like watching college basketball vs the NBA. it's still cool because I like league but man it isn't the same

[Mycoblastus]

I´m surprized that the one with low energy level got so high number. Personally i think the casters have taken the shout part in shoutcasting too literally this season, it´s way too much screaming. Maybee it´s an atempt to make it all more interesting. Knowledge and good plays are making it more interesting in my book.

[SockLove]

When it comes to MY opinion, i just feel there's a general lack of storylines outside of the performances. There's almost no beef, no interesting rivalry or anything of the sorts that isn't grounded in "how are the teams performing" and that just makes watching some games straight up tedious.

[jimharper]

The more insightful question that one should ask isn't why people aren't watching but why people *would* watch.

People don't need a reason to not watch the LCS, just like they don't need a reason to not watch a movie or TV show; not watching is the *default* situation. What the LCS should be thinking about is what would draw people into watching the games and then work hard to make those factors a reality.

In general, people watch professional sports for a number of reasons. I'll give a few, in no particular order.

1. *They want to see their team win.* This is pretty self-explanatory, but it also reflects a big disadvantage for the LCS, which is that all the teams are just brands and nothing more. They don't reside in their respective cities like traditional sports teams, which means that nobody has a reason to be a fan of a team that isn't winning. If the Phillies has many consecutive losing seasons, they can still count on the support of their fans because they represent the people of Philadelphia, but LCS teams don't have that luxury, and so only the top teams like C9, TL, and TSM can draw fans to their games, while no one would want to watch GG or FLY unless they somehow become really competitive and exciting.

2. *They want to see a specific player in action.* To use another baseball analogy, fans have a good reason to watch Angels games even if they aren't Angels fans, because they want to see Shohei Ohtani hit home runs and striking out batters. Even if someone isn't a T1 fan or RNG fan, they might still want to watch Faker and Uzi play their hearts out. Unfortunately, the LCS isn't quite providing the viewers with that this year with star players like Perkz and CoreJJ somewhat underperforming.

3. *They want to see a story unfold.* Will TL get their fourth title? Will Faker get his third championship? Will a North American team finally make their way into the semifinals at Worlds? Sometimes, people just want to find out how the story develops or ends as if they are watching a TV show. They want to see drama, and there isn't a lot of it in the LCS this year.

4. *They just want to watch great League of Legends games.* Even if people don't care about who Faker is, even if they don't care about SKT T1 or ROX Tigers, even if they don't care about a rivalry, they are still going to watch SKT T1 vs. ROX Tigers playing the greatest best-of-5 series in League of Legends history. I don't think anyone would disagree with me when I write that the highest level of League of Legends competitive play is not taking place in the LCS, and unfortunately has never taken place in the LCS.

So, that's my two cents. I'm a passionate C9 fan and a supporter of the LCS and will be watching the games for the years to come, but if the LCS wants to work to attract more viewers to join people like me, these reasons would be a good place to start.

[bs]

The best moment in recent LCS casting was Captain Flowers swearing during the middle of the cast. His energy matched how we felt as an audience.

[DelgaDude]

Co-streams are popping of that's for sure. Curious if Riot uses co-stream + main broadcast numbers to convince advertisers to invest more?

[nathanschader]

The big thing is I found out about lpl and now I stay up every night to watch china at 2am cause the quality is so much better

[DonRaynor]

I quit watching LCS after all of the teams kicked/Benched the interesting players. Thanks TL, C9 and DIG.

[Restitutor-Orbis]

Travis you are awesome. Just thought you should know that. Thank you for being a positive influence in Esports when it is so mired in unnecessary negativity.

[asnaeb]

I stopped watching after I realized the entire tourney leads up to NA getting dumpstered in the first round of worlds.

[QuixoticCosmos]

For me the biggest reason is the lack of international success. I'm not even asking for a finals either, just get a team out of groups consistently. Another reason is I don't have any favorite players I'm invested in. I'm expecting to attach to a couple if they have good worlds performances.

[stevearnold]

I personally stopped watching because their international performances. NA is really bad and I personally put the blame on the owners.
When I think about just ONE move they have made. Perkz, for example, cost over 10 million right? What if you made a minor league with the top challenger players in NA and paid them 25, 000 a year to compete? With 10 million You could pay 400 players a cheap yearly salary of 25k to duke it out to produce talent. This is just ONE move off the top of my head. 😞

[InvaderSqwid]

All I want is for the LCS orgs to produce more team video content. That's what creates fans' bonds with the players. As an EG fan I am DYING for a weekly vlog series from them. Takes me back to the days of the crazy Curse gaming mansion and TSM Baylife. And then the LCS needs to do their part in utilizing this content within their own broadcasts.

[davidb]

As someone who quit watching this year.
1. A lot of my favorite pros retired.
2. Less interest in the game overall, some saltiness over how nerfs targeting high elo/pros impacted my own play/experience.
3. NA has never had any meaningful international success better to just watch other regions.
4. Life moves on, I have other interests and after giving up playing in ranked I don't have much interest in pro play.
5. No rosters stay consistent, to much turn over makes it hard to have any team loyalty (closest is following specific players but even that is weird since they can vary so much between teams).

[jacobbaardsen]

My biggest critisisms are formatting.
1. Best of one's are terrible. Bo3 increases the level of play and allows for more narrative. The breaks between games are also easier to fill with analysis.
2. Who decided games can only be played on Fridays-sundays. Just schedule more interesting games and at better times. We don't HAVE to have Bo3 between all the crappy teams if Riot are concerned with viewership.