RLCS 2026 Play-In Sees 31% Rise in Average Viewers
The RLCS 2026 World Championship Play-In averaged 30.88% more viewers than 2025, peaked at 173,200 viewers and logged 782,000 hours watched.
Viewership data for the RLCS 2026 World Championship Play-In show a 30.88% increase in average viewers compared with 2025. Peak viewers reached 173,200, up more than 40.5% year-on-year, and total hours watched were 782,000, a 46.5% increase despite the Play-In running only 35 minutes longer than last year.
Team Falcons, the 2025 World Championship runner-up, qualified for the event via the Middle East and North Africa Points Ranking and won both of its Play-In matches to reach the Group Stage. The two matches featuring Team Falcons were the only Play-In fixtures to exceed 150,000 peak viewers. FUT Esports, Virtus.pro and Bigodes also advanced from the Play-In without dropping a match.
English, Spanish, French and Arabic all recorded year-on-year gains in hours watched. Spanish showed the largest growth and overtook French to become the second-most watched language during the Play-In. Matches involving Mate y Tapa ranked third and fourth in Play-In popularity despite the team’s elimination.
Twitch remained the leading platform by total watch time, while TikTok registered notable growth. The event’s official English channel increased its watch time by more than 1,397% year-on-year.
The Group Stage has begun. All Round 1 matches are complete, with FURIA Esports and NRG Esports holding 2–0 records. Round 2 is scheduled for September 17 and will include Karmine Corp versus Spacestation Gaming and Team Falcons versus MIBR in Group A, and Gentle Mates versus Virtus.pro and Team Vitality versus Wildcard in Group D.
Under the tournament format, each group’s winner advances to the Upper Bracket of the Playoffs, the second- and third-placed teams enter the Lower Bracket, and the fourth-placed team in each group is eliminated.
The RLCS World Championship is the final event of the 2026 Rocket League season; the Play-In stage decided which teams joined the Group Stage and competed for playoff positioning.
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