The Twitch channel for Riot Games, the developers of League of Legends, has become the first channel to hit 1 billion views. This comes in the first few weeks of the Summer Split - the second half of the League eSports scene's normal season.
League of Legends has been one of the most important pillars of Twitch's growth, becoming one of the first streaming communities that took off on the service. Riot's decision to use its official Twitch channel to stream the NALCS (North American League Championship Series) and the EULCS (the European counterpart) has been bringing people to the channel consistently for years.
League of Legends' success isn't just in its casual Twitch community, though. For those who are trying to get an idea of the scope of this accomplishment as it relates to League of Legends success as an eSport, this channel actually only covers half of the real picture. While the NALCS and the EULCS both use the Riot Games Twitch channel, they're only two regions out of several. The two most notable regions left out of the Riot Games' viewer base are the LPL and the LCK - the game's Chinese and Korean tournaments, respectively.
Through Twitch alone, the LPL and LCK add nearly another 60 million views onto the 1 billion that Riot achieved with its western tournament. Most views for those tournaments, however, come from regional services that aren't so easily compiled. Considering League's popularity in the eSports-friendly culture of South Korea, the LCK alone would add a humbling amount of views onto Riot's total number.
The competitive landscape across all of League of Legends has been volatile this season, which likely contributed to the push of viewership that brought the Riot Games channel to 1 billion. Several veteran teams left the NALCS, making way for teams like 100Thieves and Golden Guardians - owned respectively by the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors - two basketball teams with an interest in further legitimizing eSports. The LCK has also been exceptionally competitive, with the newcomer team "Griffin" currently stomping its competition with an undefeated record.