The League of Legends Superliga, the official Riot Games competition organized by LVP (Mediapro Group) in Spain, closed its 2021 Spring Split with the best audience data in its history.
Throughout the regular season and the playoffs, the Superliga reached 6.4m accumulated viewers.
The league closed out the season with an average audience per program of more than 280,000 viewers, which represents a growth of more than 40% compared to the same period from the previous year.
The grand finals between UCAM Esports Club and Cream Real Betis, played on March 25th and won by UCAM, reached the peak of the season with more than 328,385 spectators (38% more than the 2020 Spring finals).
The event also represented the highest peak of concurrent viewers of the season, with 49,758 viewers, a 6% increase on last the previous final.
These are huge numbers and it shows that Spain’s European Regional League (ERL) remains the most watched ERL in League of Legends.
“The Superliga has fired up audience growth compared to previous seasons. In Spring 2020 we grew by 25% and in Summer 2020 by 17%. This year that rate has increased to 40%, which is undoubtedly symptomatic of the excellent health of the benchmark competition in the sector.”
Jordi Soler, LVP
Another indicator that has demonstrated growth this year is the AMA (Average Minute Audience) for the playoffs, that is, the average number of spectators per minute of the final phase of the Superliga (so the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals). In Spring 2020, the data was 21,010 viewers, reaching 30,371 viewers in 2021 and representing a 44% hike.
In addition, figures for the playoffs soared above 680,000 hours viewed, which is a 21% rise on last year’s figures.
“The Superliga has fired up audience growth compared to previous seasons,” said Jordi Soler, CEO of LVP.
“In Spring 2020 we grew by 25% and in Summer 2020 by 17%. This year that rate has increased to 40%, which is undoubtedly symptomatic of the excellent health of the benchmark competition in the sector. From LVP, we thank Riot Games, the teams and players, our sponsors and the community for once again giving us an unforgettable season.”
This year’s Superliga is sponsored by Intel, OMEN, El Corte Inglés, Mahou 0,0 Tostada, Cacaolat, Takis and Domino’s.
Related article: Viva España: Why is Spanish League of Legends so popular and what can the UK learn from it?
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
