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 teams faced off for the first time in 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 fanbases were already getting into squabbles on social media before the matchup.
LEC viewership record broken thanks to KOI vs. KCorp match
The match finished with 741,450 peak viewers, according to Esports Charts. It blew away the previous record holder for the most watched match in the winter season, which was 467,042, and between Fnatic and KOI.
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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 by partnering with Rogue’s parent company and then Karmine Corp joined by purchasing a slot from Astralis.
KOI would part ways with Rogue after the 2023 season and merge with another LEC team, MAD Lions, and continue to play in the league under a combined brand.