Riot Games has disclosed its internal viewership figures for the VCT Masters Madrid event, revealing a substantially larger audience than previously reported. The finals of Masters Madrid set a new record for peak viewership in Valorant esports, reaching 1.6 million viewers, as reported by Esports Charts.
However, this count excludes viewership from certain platforms and regions like China. In an update on May 9 regarding the upcoming Masters event, Riot disclosed its internal metrics, indicating a peak concurrent viewership of 3.1 million.
Additionally, Riot stated that the tournament maintained an average viewership of 1.1 million, doubling the figures of last year’s VCT Masters Tokyo. Riot has previously noted discrepancies between its internal metrics and publicly available statistics, citing factors such as increased Chinese viewership.
However, Riot has not provided details regarding its methodology or data sources for internal viewership metrics. The Masters Madrid event featured a formidable lineup of esports organizations, including popular teams like Sentinels, Gen.G Paper Rex, LOUD, and Karmine Corp, all achieving significant success.
These impressive numbers underscore the success of Valorant’s expansion into China, its new format, and the addition of more co-streamers to the lineup. Despite these achievements, Valorant’s viewership figures are still overshadowed by Riot’s flagship esports title, League of Legends, with its international tournaments in 2023 drawing 2.3 and 6.4 million peak viewers for the Mid-Season Invitational and World Championship, respectively, according to Esports Charts.
