Khizar Mundia 
According to a study, more women watch T1’s League of Legends streams than men, a statistic that has left some scratching their heads.
The Korean team T1 has been a fan favorite thanks to the many records it has set in League of Legends esports. With loads of LCK championships to its name it’d be a household name, but its success in international tournaments has set it apart from anything else in esports. The team’s most recent win was at Worlds 2024, which made it the 5th world championship title for both the team and star player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok.
Though T1 saw a major roster change after Worlds, with Choi “Zeus” Woo-je leaving the team and Choi “Doran” Hyeon-jun joining, fans are still excited to see what they have to offer. The majority of those fans, however, are apparently women.
A study claims T1 has more female fans than males
The statistics of a Korean streaming platform claim that more women watch the streams of T1’s players than men.
A tweet revealed the results of a survey out of Korea that measured the male-to-female ratio of viewers. The stats show a breakdown of the viewership of the T1 players according to whether they’re random viewers or fan club members, whether they watch on PC or mobile device, and whether they’re a man or woman.
According to the statistics, 86.8% of Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun’s viewers are women, 84.3% of Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s audience, 90.2% of Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong’s, and 85.1 of Ryu “Keria” Min-seok’s.
While some wondered about how accurate the figures are, there’s qualitative evidence to support the questioned quantitative data.
In a Reddit thread, fans shared pictures of a tournament featuring T1 where women seemingly outnumber men in the audience. Furthermore, some fans reported that they experienced the same gender dynamics in stadiums when they went to watch live matches. Others state claim that this has always been the case in Korea.
They claim that the demographics of viewers in Korea treat esports similarly to the idol industry. Men from popular esports teams are seen as celebrities and treated like royalty, and T1 stands as Korea’s most perennially successful team. It’s unclear whether this translates to other League of Legends players, or competitors in other prominent esports.
T1’s performance in global League of Legends tournaments likely played a huge role in their local popularity.
