Riot Games has reported viewership figures for the LCS Lock In tournament, which kicked off the 2021 competitive season. The tournament saw an average minute audience (AMA) of 196K with more than 9.4M hours watched across the competition — up 43% from the first three weeks of the 2020 Spring Split.
The finals match between Team Liquid and Cloud9 reach an AMA of 246K, peaking at 372K across official English-language broadcasts. Team Liquid’s victory secured the organization a $150K USD grand prize as well as a $50K donation to the charity of their choice (TL selected the Gamers and Online Harassment Hotline).
This was the first time the LCS season opened with a small tournament ahead of regular season play. The LCS Spring Split has historically received criticism for its format due to a lack of meaningful stakes impacting a team’s standing for the annual World Championship. In December, Riot Games announced several changes to the LCS format including the Lock In tournament and a reduced six-week regular Spring Split season.
