The first stage of the LPL regular season and the Knight’s Journey have wrapped up. Following a month of battles, the eight teams BLG, AL, JDG, WBG, TES, IG, WE, and NIP secured their spots in the playoffs. Because of the Spring Festival holiday pause, the playoffs were set for the 24th. The officials’ plan was quite surprising, as they arranged two BO5 matches daily for the initial two days of playoffs, resulting in a very compressed schedule.

This year’s first stage heat is something everyone has probably noticed—it’s clearly declining. Most home game tickets remain unsold, with prices dropping to 48 yuan but still not attracting buyers. Spectators attending the venue have complained about the lack of excitement, and broadcasters even hesitate to show the audience shots. In the past, whenever the stands were somewhat full, the broadcast would highlight fans during players’ breaks.

However, these issues aren’t the most direct indicator—the drop in match viewership numbers is the clearest sign. Last year’s first stage saw the highest single-match views on Bilibili reach 2.51 million for IG vs. RNG. This year, the top match was BLG vs. AL, with only 879,000 views. Throughout the entire first stage, no match surpassed one million views, marking a drastic decline in popularity.

Still, there are LPL-related videos exceeding ten thousand views. For example, Guan Zeyuan’s interview with the coach hit 1.21 million views. Besides that, content creators like Weilan Bianji have produced songs that also broke one million views. But these don’t count as match viewership, and the music scene’s popularity is also noticeably lower than last year. Currently, most LPL fans remain present but just aren’t interested in watching the matches.

The absence of TheShy and Uzi is indeed a major reason for the steep drop in popularity. Last year’s resurgence owed much to TheShy—his presence guaranteed full attendance at both home and away games. In contrast, this year’s attendance is clearly lacking. However, this isn’t the sole cause, since last year BLG and AL also attracted high attention, yet their match this year didn’t reach one million views either.

This indicates that viewers currently just aren’t interested in the matches, even when strong teams face off. They’d rather watch a few rounds of ARAM. This decline stems from the LPL’s poor international performance in recent seasons. If the LPL had won a championship anytime from S12 to S15, the popularity wouldn’t have dropped so quickly. Therefore, this year, winning the championship is crucial to retaining the audience.

Additionally, low match quality is another reason for viewers’ disinterest. Except for the top-tier internal battles, matches in the Resolute and Phoenix groups are genuinely unappealing. Every time you tune in, both teams make numerous mistakes; after watching a BO3 series, you might feel full before even eating. However, the playoffs should see an improvement in quality and a rebound in popularity, though without star players, the ceiling remains limited.

Currently, the LPL relies on Bin’s Weibo posts to stir up hype, which shows how severe the popularity drop is. The organizers must be aware of this, but honestly, it’s hard to boost interest in the short term unless top stars like TheShy or Uzi return for some matches. Bringing Uzi back seems unrealistic, so the immediate priority is to invite TheShy back, at least to have a top-tier star again.

Conclusion:

Across 108 BO3 regular-season matches and 6 BO5 Knight’s Journey games, not a single match surpassed one million views. The audience loss this year is faster than expected. While many might not notice, those of us who cover these matches can clearly see the LPL’s declining popularity, as fewer people are reading articles compared to last year.

So, what do you think the LPL should do to revive its popularity?

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