The LCK, having revamped its format into a unified season for 2025, has shattered all previous viewership records.

First off, the 2025 LCK Cup—the debut experiment of the year—hooked players immediately, setting a solid baseline. The 2025 LCK regular season then picked up the baton, eclipsing the Cup’s numbers and proving the structural overhaul was a masterstroke. We are looking at an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 634,000, a 42% year-on-year surge that firmly cements this as the highest peak in LCK history.

It does not stop there; for the first time, domestic viewership cracked the 200,000 annual average mark, up 31% from last year. It seems the co-streaming efforts by big-name streamers on Naver Chzzk and SOOP were the catalyst for this influx of new eyes.

The 2025 LCK followed a grand, unified annual structure: kicking off with the traditional format for rounds 1-2, hitting the Road to MSI, splitting into 'Legend' and 'Rise' groups for rounds 3-5, and culminating in the play-ins and playoffs. This long-haul approach was designed to stabilise the league’s rhythm, and frankly, the numbers suggest it kept viewership consistently healthy throughout the season.

Global metrics have seen a similarly impressive climb. It is safe to say that the strong performances of LCK squads on the international stage have done wonders for bolstering the global fandom.

China and Vietnam were the heavy hitters behind this global spike. In China, co-streaming via the HUYA platform alone drove a 61% growth, effectively clawing back the viewership levels seen before the decline that followed the absence of official broadcast contracts. Meanwhile, Vietnam saw a 62% annual growth, likely thanks to the LCK’s consistent support for local offline events and the active participation of LCK teams in the region.

Bolstered by those gains in China and Vietnam, the 2025 LCK global viewership smashed the figures from the 2024 LCK Summer Split. Even when stacked against the LCK Cup—which was already a massive step up from last year—the 2025 season performed 15% better. Notably, the group-split rounds 3-5 hit an AMA of 564,000, a 25.6% jump over the equivalent period during the 2024 Summer Split.

The latter half of the 2025 LCK, rounds 3-5, marked the first time the league was divided into two groups. The top five teams from the first two rounds were slotted into the 'Legend' group, while the bottom five were consigned to the 'Rise' group. The result? Fewer 'dead' matches with no stakes and significantly more high-octane clashes between bitter rivals—a change that clearly paid off in the viewership charts.

The playoffs, naturally featuring the cream of the crop, captured massive attention. The 'Big Three'—Gen.G, Hanwha Life Esports, and T1—were the obvious drivers of this growth. However, credit is also due to kt Rolster, who overcame their round 3-5 struggles to clinch a 2025 World Championship spot, and BNK FearX, who kept everyone on their toes with a series of playoff upsets.