The initial round of games at First Stand 2026 has wrapped up, and the viewership data confirms that the tournament’s expanded format is already proving successful. The 2026 edition increased the event to 8 teams, attracting a wider global audience and engaging regional fans. In the first two days of First Stand 2026, watch time has nearly doubled compared to last year’s event — and this growth is not limited to one group, with fans who speak English, Vietnamese, Portuguese, and Chinese all showing increased interest.
The Second Stand event has been expanded for its second iteration, now featuring a team from both the newly-divided CBLOL and LCS circuits — rather than just one representative for the LTA — and also the second-seed teams of the LCK and LPL, two of League of Legends esports’ most influential circuits. The eight teams now compete in two separate groups, with only the top two from each group advancing to the Knockout Stage, scheduled for March 21 and 22.
Which game attracted the highest viewership on Day 2 of First Stand 2026?
The most-watched match of the Group B opening games was Gen.G’s 3:0 victory over JD Gaming, which peaked at 794,319 viewers on the second day of First Stand. This surpassed the most popular opening match of Group A — Bilibili Gaming vs BNK FearX — by almost 30,000 viewers. Notably, Gen.G’s win in their first match achieved a higher peak audience across three maps than Bilibili’s hard-fought 3:2 victory over FearX.
The high viewership for Gen.G versus JDG reflects the global appeal of these high-stakes League of Legends matches. While we do not include Chinese livestreaming platforms in our statistics, the clash between LCK’s number-one seed and LPL’s number-two seed naturally attracted fans from different regions.
Esports Charts is unable to track viewership data for Chinese livestreaming platforms due to the lack of publicly available statistics on these sites. Chinese-language viewership in our database for tournaments represents Chinese streams on global platforms like Twitch.
The second match of Day 2, LYON vs LOUD, was the longest series of the opening rounds in terms of total runtime and drew over 605,000 concurrent viewers for its decisive fifth game. Ultimately, LYON emerged victorious in the final match of the closely contested series, advancing to the Upper Bracket Final where they will face Gen.G. With the double-elimination format in the groups, FearX, Secret Whales, JD Gaming, and LOUD are all at risk of being eliminated.
How many viewers watched Day 2 of First Stand 2026?
Across the first two days, the combined viewership numbers mark the most successful start to a First Stand event, with viewership significantly higher than the inaugural edition last year. The four matches across Groups A and B generated over 7.6M Hours Watched and maintained over 520,000 concurrent viewers during almost 15 hours of broadcast time. Compared to 2025, First Stand 2026 was broadcast for about 50% longer, as the switch to best-of-five matches had a noticeable impact on total watch time.
With over 7.6M Hours Watched, First Stand 2026 has seen nearly a 100% increase in viewership compared to its first year. The introduction of best-of-five matches, which also garnered strong viewership, has set the stage for an exciting year for LoL esports. This year’s event has the potential to surpass last year’s peak viewership of 1.1M for the grand finals and establish a new viewership record for the First Stand brand.
Among the language demographics for First Stand 2026, Portuguese-speaking audiences in São Paulo’s home market performed above expectations, given that this is the first major LoL tournament hosted in Brazil in nine years and featuring LOUD. Vietnamese, English, and Chinese-speaking audiences also experienced significant increases in peak concurrent viewership during the initial matches.
The Group Stage of First Stand 2026 will wrap up on March 20, determining the four teams advancing to the Playoffs Stage of the season-opening tournament. Stay tuned for the upcoming matches; with elimination on the line, viewership is expected to surge as fans rally behind their favorite teams and players.