The LEC Winter viewership record has been broken thanks to the fanbases of MAD Lions KOI and Karmine Corp.
The LEC has seen some turnover in organizations in the past two years, with esports brands that have massive streamers attached entering the league. Karmine Corp, which is part-owned by French streamers Kamel ‘Kameto’ Kebir and Zouhair ‘Kotei’ Darjimassive, and MAD Lions KOI, which is part-owned by Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos, are two such teams.
The two teamsfaced off for the first timein the LEC on January 15, and their match broke LEC viewership records, in large part due to their owners’ massive followings and nationalistic fanbase.
The two fanbaseswere already getting into squabbles on social mediabefore the matchup.
LEC viewership record broken thanks to KOI vs. KCorp match
The match also set a new record for the LEC regular season, reaching numbers not normally seen until the playoff stages.
The French broadcast, thanks to KCorp, grew to see about 255,000 peak viewers while the game was live. The Spanish show also saw an increase in peak viewership, reaching 242,800 viewers. MAD Lions KOI defeated KCorp in the record-breaking matchup, leaving the team winless in the opening weekend of the LEC Winter split.
The two teams facing off against each other in the LEC have been a long time coming. Both Ibai and KCorp had expressed interest in joining the league for years. Ibai joined in first with KOI bypartnering with Rogue’s parent companyand then Karmine Corp joined bypurchasing a slot from Astralis.
Declan McLaughlin was a Gaming & Esports Writer on Dexerto’s US team, specializing in Valorant and League of Legends. He has bylines at Upcomer and Inven Global.
