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Valorant Masters London 2026 opened with a slower viewership start than the previous international event of the series. Compared to Valorant Masters Santiago 2026, the London event’s opening weekend declined across the main audience indicators by roughly 13% to 23%, with Peak Viewers seeing the sharpest drop.






The decline can partly be explained by the composition of the Swiss Stage. Masters Santiago featured several major audience drivers from the start, including Paper Rex, T1 and G2 Esports. In London, Paper Rex and G2 begin their campaigns directly from the Playoffs, while T1 did not qualify for the event at all. As a result, several teams with strong regional and international fanbases were absent from the opening weekend schedule, which likely affected the Valorant tournament’s early viewership potential.





At the same time, the early numbers should not be viewed too negatively. The second matchday performed noticeably better than the first across all key viewership metrics, suggesting that Masters London may have simply needed time to build momentum. The event also launched while the IEM Cologne Major 2026 was already underway, creating direct competition for esports audience attention during the same weekend.






The second matchday also produced the tournament’s strongest matches by viewership so far. Both series played on Sunday surpassed 400K Peak Viewers, performing noticeably better than the opening day’s matches. The most popular game of the event so far was FUT Esports vs FULL SENSE, which drew more than 425K Peak Viewers and currently stands as Masters London 2026’s top match by peak audience.Â



Beyond the numbers, Masters London has already produced several smaller storylines around the event itself. Riot is leaning into the broader fan experience with Pick’Ems, the Shotcall Twitch extension, on-site activations, Fan Fest plans and a new map reveal scheduled for the Grand Final day.



The community also picked up on recurring scheduling patterns around Chinese teams opening international VCT events, while teams such as Global Esports and XLG generated early discussion around dark-horse potential and the challenge of converting regional form into international results.



Overall, it is still too early to draw firm conclusions about Masters London’s viewership ceiling. The opening weekend trailed Masters Santiago, and the absence of several highly popular teams from the Swiss Stage clearly affected the early audience. However, the improvement from Day 1 to Day 2 leaves room for growth, especially once the tournament moves closer to the Playoffs and the biggest regional first seeds enter the stage.



/2026/06/16/6a31aa70407c8995414425.jpg "Coupe du monde 2026 : Olise maestro, le roc Upamecano, Mbappé dans lhistoire… Les notes des Bleus contre le Sénégal")
