T1 Breaks Viewership Records at LoL Worlds 2025

• T1 defeats Invictus Gaming at 3-1 in a Play-In round at the Worlds.
• 2.5M peak viewers, breaking the previous Play-In record of 2024.
• New format boosts global excitement for regional rivalries and high-stakes matches.

The 2025 edition of the League of Legends (LoL) World Championship began with a bang as T1 defeated Invictus Gaming in a 3-1 win in the Play-In round. The opening match broke all the viewership records, peaking at over 2.5 million live viewers, as reported by Esports Charts on October 14, making it the single highest viewership for a Play-in match in world history.

Change in Format of LoL World Championship

The Play-Ins this year saw a significant format change, where only two teams competed for the final place in the Swiss Stage, instead of the usual eight teams. This resulted in an instant blockbuster clash, which put the current world champions against the strong Chinese group which is trying to restore its former glory in the international competitive arena.

Record Viewership from Various Platforms

The 2.5M viewership of the match far exceeded the previous peak of 1.4M in 2024, showcasing a jump of 80%. The viewership of the match was the largest on YouTube, followed by Twitch. A large number of people also watched it on Korean platforms like CHZZK and SOOP. In fact, regionally, South Korea had the single largest audience share, with a concurrent viewership of over 840,183. 

Although the event is taking place in China, the viewership figures exclude viewers from exclusive Chinese streaming services. This implies that the true numbers were likely significantly higher. The global English-speaking viewers, together with other Asian fanbases, notably from Vietnam and China (on non-Chinese platforms), showed considerable engagement too.

The viewership of the opening match smashed the previous Play-In record by a wide margin, revealing how much global fans like competitive regional rivalries.

An Intense Win

T1 and Invictus Gaming had an intense, high-stakes, best-of-five match. The series was largely in favor of T1, who made a strong comeback after dropping Game 2, but “rallied to take the next two games, confidently securing their place in the Group Stage,” as per Esports Charts. 

Although Invictus's return was highly anticipated at the Worlds, T1's confidence, depth, teamwork and experience led them through, especially during peak-pressure moments.

In 2025, Faker from T1 became the first player to compete for the tenth time at the League of Legends World Championships. Notably, in all his appearances with T1, Faker had never finished below the semifinals ever and has already claimed the title five times along with his team, making T1 one of the most successful teams in the history of LoL.