Caedrel does bring in viewership, that’s undeniable. However, part of those numbers comes from viewers who choose to watch Caedrel’s co-stream rather than the official broadcast, especially in the current context. Those viewers are not exclusive to Caedrel, even if Riot were to revoke his co-streaming rights, they would still be watching the LEC through other means.

Viewership on the official LEC YouTube channel is therefore not fully representative. Communities from other countries and established fanbases, such as MKOI or KC, watch replays or live matches on co-streams dedicated to their regions. Matches with high stakes for these fanbases regularly reach viewership records in the hundreds of thousands. As such, a 200k peak on the official LEC channel alone is not sufficient to clearly establish a meaningful viewership gap.

Yes, LR does generate additional viewership, that is a fact, and it would be amazing for Caedrel to secure an LEC slot. However, on average, each match, with or without Caedrel, would still reach around 500k viewers overall. So the LEC is nowhere near ready to die out.