Quick Notes: Moving the NA LCS start time

Riot·Feb 9, 2018·0 votes·31,446 views

TL;DR:

NA LCS will be starting earlier on Sundays, beginning with February 18 (Week 5)
NA LCS Countdown will begin at 11:30 AM PT and champ select for game one will start at noon / 12:00 PM PT

Hi NA LCS fans - I’m Chris “RiotChopper” Hopper and I’m back with another Quick Notes. If you didn’t catch our first post, this is a NA esports series similar to Meddler’s where we’ll deep dive into topics that the community wants to know more about, discuss work in progress, and share our decision-making process.

Due to your feedback, we’ll be moving up the NA LCS start time to earlier on Sundays starting Week 5. If anyone’s interested in some of the details behind the decision, in this post I’ll be diving into how we decide the NA LCS start time, why we decided to move it up move on Sundays, and what it takes to change the NA LCS start time.

How do we decide our start times?

When we looked at the start time for the NA LCS for Spring 2018, we looked at a couple of factors similar to when we made the format change last year:

Fan Behavior
Historical Viewership
Community Feedback
Overlap with other Esports Shows

Looking at these factors suggested a few things:

It’s an issue to overlap with EU LCS given the amount of shared audience that watches both NA LCS and EU LCS
Having broadcast days start at different times has previously caused a dip in viewership

Ever since the the EU LCS and NA LCS broadcasts were launched in 2013, they have been consciously separated to allow fans of both regions to watch all of the shows. Even with the move to Bo3, the non-overlap was preserved where possible, allowing viewers to at least watch the majority of each regions’ matches live.

With the shift back to Bo1 this year, EU LCS decided to play half of their games on Saturday, which posed a challenge for fans of both broadcasts - if NA LCS continued to start at noon PT on Saturdays, a large group of fans would have to choose between NA LCS and EU LCS, because the latter half of EU LCS would have overlapped with NA LCS. In an attempt to avoid that situation, we decided to push our start time to later in the day. We knew we wanted to cut the potential gap as narrowly as possible to minimize downtime between broadcasts for fans watching both, as well as to prevent the show from running any later than necessary. We also hoped to explore new handoffs from the EU broadcast directly to NA on Saturdays, providing a touchpoint for fans of both leagues. All of these inputs led us to decide on a 2:00 PM PT start time for Saturday.

Having seen experiments in several regions with staggered start times across the week, we knew that it could have detrimental effects on viewership. And given our several years of consistency between Saturday and Sunday start times in NA, we believed it to be important to maintain the same time on both days, even if it was a new time. As such, we decided to move Sunday to 2:00 as well, despite the lack of overlap from the EU broadcast.

So why are we changing the start time on Sunday now?

Despite the fact that we felt good about the decision to start the season with consistent start times, we knew that we would quickly learn whether it was the right decision or not as data rolled in. After reviewing the amount of community feedback from EU and East Coast viewers and the audience data showing viewership fading for the late Sunday games, we decided that it was worth the potential confusion to gain the additional audience that should come with an earlier start time. We noticed that the drop-off in viewership was more pronounced on Sunday than on Saturday; as many community members have mentioned, most fans can stay up later on Saturdays because they don’t have school or work the next day but don’t have the same luxury on Sundays. So, we’ll be starting earlier.

It’s still our desire to not overlap with the EU LCS (and force fans to pick between the two broadcasts), so Saturday start times will remain at 2:00 PM PT.

Why not make the change in Week 4; why wait until Week 5?

Shifting start time of an international broadcast is not as easy as simply flipping a switch and having teams show up earlier. Once we had determined that we wanted to explore an earlier start time, we immediately began discussing broadcast and technical constraints, as well as staffing concerns for production, referees, and on-air talent, not to mention the pros and teams who would be faced with a shorter turnaround.

While the NA LCS broadcast may go off-air around 7:00 PM PT, our staff continues to work, preparing for the next day - graphics, story, script, etc; all need to be constructed between the shows, and cutting two hours out from that time is a significant chunk. We also have vendors and broadcast partners who would be impacted by this change, and we needed to give them more than a few days’ notice to ensure that the first early broadcast would run smoothly. Finally, we wanted to consult with our pro teams who schedule practice, scrims, sponsor visits, and other player commitments weeks in advance. Fortunately, teams were all in support of this decision, and the earlier start time did not pose a problem for any previous commitments. We are also able to pair the earlier start time with the launch of flex scheduling in Week 5, which allows us to ensure that no team will be required to play the last game on Saturday and the first on Sunday.

Is this a pilot? Could Sundays move back to 2:00 PM again?

For the foreseeable future (meaning throughout the 2018 season), NA LCS will start earlier on Sundays with NA LCS Countdown starting at 11:30 AM PT and games starting at noon / 12:00 PM PT.

If it turns out that staggered start times make it too difficult for viewers to consistently tune in, we could certainly revisit our Sat/Sun start times, but it would be predicated on 1.5 splits worth of data demonstrating that the current model isn’t working. In other words, we’re going to commit for a while and then evaluate.

What if ticket holders don’t learn about this change?

We will be emailing all Sunday ticket holders for Week 5 and beyond to ensure awareness of the change. If this change has impacted your plans to attend the NA LCS, please reach out to [email protected] and put “NA LCS Time Change" in the subject line.

Don’t forget that starting with Week 5 on Sunday, February 18, NA LCS Countdown will start at 11:30 AM PT and games will begin at 12:00 PM PT. This will continue on for all Sundays moving forward.

If you have any questions or feedback about NA esports, let me know in the comments below or share your thoughts on Twitter or reddit. For more Quick Notes, learn how we select our NA LCS Finals locations.

Chris “RiotChopper” Hopper is the Head of Esports for North America. Formerly, he was focused on the global development and international operations of competitive League of Legends. Chopper is a decent poker player, sports fanatic who wins (almost) every Fantasy League among the Riot esports team, and always cheers for his alma mater, Duke. Questions about NA esports or want to chat about Magic: The Gathering? Reach out to him on Twitter via @RiotChopper.

24 Comments

HellmetFeb 10, 201812 votes

Bring back the Best of 3s.. this 1 game and done is boooooooooring.

WintershereFeb 10, 20182 votes

Agreed, I am struggling to watch this season as a best of 1. They are probably making this change with the idea that less people are watching on Sundays due to the "schedule". In reality, less people are watching due to best of 1s being boring. At least with a Best of 3 if you lose the first one you have a chance to fix your mistakes and take the second.

o SLY oFeb 10, 20181 votes

I do not know if the problem is the best of 1, but one thing is sure ... games are less entertaining to watch! Last year I use to watch almost every BO3 from NALCS and LCK, but this year, after the first couple of games ... I just do something else ... witch is probably a good thing hahaha

urazieloftheringFeb 10, 20182 votes

i kinda agree with both sides of the debate. i preferred best of threes, in part because it fit into a nice 3 phase story arc but mostly because it ment watching more matches of my favorite team but i just don't have the time to watch all the bo3 which is between 15-25 hour of games as opposed to about 8.

what you have to realise is riot doesn't have any incentive to reducing broadcast time, that mean less sponsored space for making revenue, and provided it doesn't have an opportunity cost (which i don't think it has) their is no reason for riot to reduce broadcast time except viewer dropout.

personally i expect bo3 to comeback eventually, with the new franchise system riot and team will have more time to build a wider fan base and secure more dedicated team viewers. they will want to more of their team making bo3 more interesting. this is a bit of speculation but that what i believe.

overall i prefer to have a more robust and developed lolesports community in the futur than more games for me now.

djsykloneFeb 11, 20181 votes

IMO Bo1s are bad because I don't always feel like the best team won. Especially with the games going long, it feels like it just comes down to who wins the last team fight. The past couple of years I watched most Bo3s from my fav teams. I also watched almost every single NA Bo3 and a lot of LPL Bo3s. I did watch some LCK Bo3s as well. The biggest problem I have as a fan is that there is almost always a game I don't care a lot about being played. During the Bo3 seasons, I just check the other channel and watch the most competitive game. During Bo1 I find myself just losing interest and turning it off to do something else. This is done with the intention that if there is another game I want to see being played later, I'll come back and watch it, but it's not always working out that way. It's affecting how I watch VODs as well because I don't feel enough investment to go back and see a Bo1 when it's over lightning quick and the best team may not have even won. It just seems like the time invested is not very meaningful.

urazieloftheringFeb 12, 20181 votes

honestly i understand and fundamentally i agree. double round robin is already pretty good at identifying the best but double round robin BO3 are better. and being more and more fan of a team than the actual esport i'm drawn to the BO3 format.

but i think it selfish to impose BO3 at the cost of the health of the esport.

UltedSonFeb 10, 201810 votes

“our staff continues to work, preparing for the next day - graphics, story, script, etc”

Comfirm lcs scripted

abs sanFeb 10, 20183 votes

thats not what they meant, idiot

Too EasyFeb 10, 201812 votes

whoosh

Dane BelthoundFeb 10, 20181 votes

Look up and you will see the point flying right over your head.

MazariamontiFeb 10, 20186 votes

You guys really need to separate NALCS or EULCS, this is getting ridiculous. They're different regions, and for the most part have different viewers, treat them as such. They should be competing for viewers, not one getting some extra out of charity from the larger NALCS.

TolkmitFeb 10, 20183 votes

Yeah, the reason at least some of us stopped watching isn't the start time. It's because Best of 1's aren't as entertaining. There is no time for stories to develop, for there to be adaptions between teams, etc.

Dane BelthoundFeb 10, 20182 votes

I am soooo tired of hearing analysts say, "We cannot really talk say anything with certainty because they have only played X amount of games". Will be pretty much hearing this all season because at the end of the day, to see if a team is truly good you need to see how they adjust game to game in a series. The problem with Bo1 is that you can cheese and overplan for a game. Much harder to do during a series.

PilamarFeb 12, 20181 votes

Yeah.. I haven't watched any this season due to the BO1... there's nothing there.. One team cheeses their way to win and it's over.. BO3 is where you see the teams who are able to adapt to their counterpart and make it interesting. Used to love being able to watch up to 3 games each matchup and see how skilled each player was.. they make a mistake in one game and you see them fix that in the next game..

djsykloneFeb 11, 20183 votes

I would love to see stats of Bo1 viewership vs Bo3 cause imo Bo1 is trash and makes a much bigger diff than start times in viewership.

TharusFeb 10, 20181 votes

What's that in eastern time?

stuxbleedFeb 10, 20181 votes

3 hours later, so countdown will start at 2:30pm, games at 3.

HellmetFeb 11, 20181 votes

Could you imagine playing on one of these teams during a best of 1? Every Saturday and Sunday you have to get up and get ready to be on TV.. and yes, it's a process so that you look decent.. uniform etc, these are pros, not scrubs. They have to commute from their houses to the studio.. LA traffic is bad. They have to get in there, go through the motions of getting ready for pro play and the end result.. they get to play 1 single game that day. That would tilt me every single weekend. They spend hours each of those days to get ready to play 1 game, not a good life.

WariosFeb 11, 20181 votes

Well twice a week, need to get dressed and go to the office, rest of the time, work from home in your bath robe if you want. Hard life, would rather work 5 days a week standing on my feet, fighting traffic every day to and from work.

djsykloneFeb 11, 20181 votes

I think more specifically for the teams like TSM and CLG that everyone predicts should be better. Bo1s probably feel extremely punishing. I imagine both of these teams would have won more games if they were given a chance to adapt.

Sorry Im LateFeb 11, 20181 votes

Waiting for EU to finish to be able to watch NA LCS is a pain in the nuts. Let me tell you what's important to get viewers, it's casters. I enjoy watching NA because I like the casters I hate watching LPL for that reason. LCK is alright not as good as when Monte was there but ok enough and since the region is #1 I can watch it.

Clean SockFeb 11, 20181 votes

guess I am back to watching Vods on Sunday =(

Ravens6969Feb 12, 20181 votes

Honestly I think 2pm would be a good start time.

Nate GGFeb 12, 20181 votes

Huge step in the right direction! I wish they would do this on Saturdays too but I understand the hesitancy due to EU fans. As an East coaster, the 5pm start time is super annoying but glad we at least get 1 day changed!