The VCT LOCK//IN final between LOUD and Fnatic went down as possibly the best match in Valorant history, and it came very close to shattering the game’s viewership record.
Over 1.4 million people were tuned in at one point as Fnatic beat LOUD 3-2 in the grand final of VCT LOCK//IN, according to statistics website Esports Charts. This is the second-highest peak viewership in Valorant esports history.
The data collected includes the main English streams on English and YouTube, as well as co-streams and streams in other languages. The previous holder of second place was the grand final of Valorant Champions 2021 between Gambit and Acend, which peaked at 1,089,068 viewers.
The nail-biting VCT LOCK//IN match was just 80,000 viewers short of the Valorant Champions 2022 final between LOUD and OpTic, which remains the game’s most popular esports match. Over 1.5 million viewers watched then as LOUD ran out 3-1 winners in an exciting match that had multiple overtimes on Ascent and Breeze.
The strong viewership figures posted by VCT LOCK//IN stand in contrast to the general industry trend as various tournaments across multiple esports struggle for viewers. Earlier this week, it was also revealed that Twitch, the biggest videogame streaming platform in the world, had seen a 9.4% decline in both average viewership and hours watched year-over-year.
VCT LOCK//IN averaged over 430,000 viewers during its 15-day run – only the fourth-highest average viewership in the game’s history. This is partly down to the tournament’s unforgiving single-elimination format, which sees teams eliminated after one defeat. Sentinels, the team with the most average viewers at VCT LOCK//IN outside of the two finalists, according to Esports Charts, were sent packing in the first round.
Most popular Valorant esports matches
MatchEventPeak ViewershipOpTic vs LOUDValorant Champions 20221,505,804Fnatic vs LOUDVCT LOCK//IN1,428,242Gambit vs AcendValorant Champions 20211,089,068Sentinels vs FnaticVCT 2021 Masters Reykjavík1,085,850Gambit vs KRÜValorant Champions 20211,060,257OpTic vs DRXValorant Champions 20221,001,726NRG vs LOUDVCT LOCK//IN886,395OpTic vs LOUD Valorant Champions 2022875,688Paper Rex vs EDG Valorant Champions 2022860,353Sentinels vs KRÜValorant Champions 2021844,387Sentinels vs FnaticVCT LOCK//IN820,549
Most popular Valorant events
EventPeak ViewershipAvg. ViewershipValorant Champions 20221,505,804525,817VCT LOCK//IN1,428,242431,979Valorant Champions 20211,089,068469,083VCT 2021 Masters Reykjavík1,085,850488,364VCT 2022 Masters Reykjavík1,065,887416,236VCT 2021 Masters Berlin811,370389,971VCT 2022 Masters Copenhagen783,985317,604
Elite-level Valorant will return at the end of this month with the international leagues in EMEA, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. The next LAN event with teams from all over the world will be VCT Masters Tokyo, scheduled for June 11-25.
About Post Author
