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LEC reveals record viewership ahead of Worlds 2020

Worlds 2020 is less than a month away, and for one region in particular there’s already plenty to celebrate. Namely Europe, where the League of Legends European Championship has had one of it’s best ever seasons for viewership.

In a detailed post on reviewing the 2020 LEC Summer viewership, the Rioter Alberto “Tiroless” Guerrero revealed the record-setting figures. Overall the LEC’s peak concurrent viewers hit close to one million, reaching a height of 952,339, an increase of 16.7 percent. However, this wasn’t some kind of outlier with the average viewership not far off that mark at 819,415.

That number, which would put it ahead of many TV shows on traditional media for live viewing figures, represents a 70% increase since last year for the Summer Split. The report also states that this was the highest viewed season ever in Europe.


The news comes as the LEC has received universal praise for it’s revitalised broadcast. The European League of Legends scene was revitalised in 2019 with the rebrand from EU LCS to LEC. Since then the broadcast team has striven to create a unique identity, and the record viewership seems to imply that they’ve been successful in engaging with the audience.

The New Kings

This is a far cry from the dismal years past in which Europe, despite often better individual talent, struggled against the individual personalities and brand recognition in the LCS. Since then, problems with production, and a failure to adapt quickly during the coronavirus pandemic, has seen the LCS loose pace with the LEC.

During both League’s respective finals, the LEC hit its peak viewership. Meanwhile, the LCS struggled to beat over half of that, peaking at 545,571, but floundering to a 205,750 on average. This would in part have been down to the five-match war between Team SoloMid and FlyQuest dragging on for so long, while the quick pace of the LEC finals would have kept viewers excited. 

Regardless, it’s a dramatic shift in fortunes for both leagues, and a wake-up call for the LCS, who must now attempt to regain their dominance of the platform in the wake of the LEC’s record viewership.

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League of Legends

LEC/LCS Veteran Kold Announces Retirement, departs Origen

It’s always sad when seemingly young pro’s call it quits. However, today’s announcement that Jonas “Kold” Andersen would be retiring takes the cake. Kold announced his retirement today on social media, accompanied by a longer explanation on TwitLonger.

In his post, Kold describes the issues that had plagued him during the 2019 Summer Split – problems which eventually caused him to step down from Origen. The star Danish jungler had been under tremendous amounts of stress which had manifested into physical symptoms. In light of the threat to his health, Kold took a break from the competitive scene.

Now, just over 12 months later, Kold has officially announced his retirement. He’s not completely leaving the scene though. The talented former-player now looks to put his skills to work as a coach in either the LEC or LCS.

Any team that picks up Kold would benefit from his years of competitive experience, dating back to 2013 and the foundation of the modern LoL pro-scene. First rising to prominence on the now defunct Cloud9 Eclipse, a European branch of the NA organisation, Kold’s biggest break would come as part of H2k-Gaming.

Kold would later move regions to NA, playing on Enemy eSports, before returning to Europe. Here he found one of his most successful seasons with Splyce. However, despite their seeming mastery of Macro play, Splyce would find themselves eliminated in the group stage. Following this, Kold played on European teams including Unicorns of Love and finally Origen.

He departs his pro career with a legacy that includes international competition, a Rift Rivals victory, and several LEC runners up prizes.


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