LCS now streaming on Mondays!
Usually, the League of Legends LCS had normally only be held on the weekends. This strategy is most obvious, considering the weekends yield the most viewership considering Saturdays and Sundays are when most people have their days off. However, the continuous growth of the LCS, League of Legends and esports, in general, has called for major games and matches to be streamed at other times. Simply put, the suitable time slots in the two weekend days are not enough.
To keep continuity, Riot had sought to extend the LCS matches to either a Friday or Monday, alongside their weekend games.
Why did Riot choose Monday?
Friday in hindsight seemed like the most obvious option to add another day into the week of LCS. The day flows into the weekend, with a Friday night commonly being a free time for many around the world.
© LoL Esports / Riot Games
However, in an effort to disrupt the norm, Chris Greeley, the commissioner for the LCS, stated the team wished to “create some rituals around watching”. This move by Riot is an experimental one, testing the viewing patterns and desire for esports content on a Monday.
Setting a stage
Monday night football may be a hit, however, this time slot has rarely been a target for esports matches, especially regular ones like the LCS. The success of the Monday night football may also not directly translate to success for LCS Mondays, after all, the primary audience and fans of the two are quite different, and do not have the same schedules.
That said, if the Monday LCS is able to successfully pull in the numbers near to their weekend games, we could see more competitive matches on Monday throughout the industry. Esports continues to grow rapidly, with more fans and larger leagues, it is expected to match the frequency to increase. To address this, the only course of action for tournament organizers is to expand its broadcasting times throughout the week.
See also: LCS Power Rankings 2020 | TFT Set 3
Good timing
Looking at the situation now with the Corona Virus spreading, and the trend of governments discouraging movement in an effort to slow down the spread, Monday night LCS game viewership will certainly benefit. With reduce travel and general activity, the demand for esports content will increase as people spend more time at home.
Is it working?
To date, a few Monday LCS games have been played. Judging these, the viewership as expected is definitely lower than its weekend counterparts, hovering around half the numbers. For example, recently the Monday broadcast only hosting 60,000 viewers while Saturday and Sunday saw around 100,000.
© LoL Esports / Riot Games
Despite the lower figures, as time goes on, the community is more aware of a regular Monday LCS and changes their habits/schedules, viewership is only set to rise.
