cmon guys, game is dead! sell it already to tiktok and its done!
Consider that Valorant is only at its 2nd year and we're on a pandemic. If you compare the present from the time when the other esports event like Worlds, PGL, and Ti are only starting, it is really different because people today focuses on finding ways to live than watch esports compared to the people 10 years ago. So there's no point on comparing the viewership on VCT than viewership on the other well-established esports event
The emote mode by sensitive admins on these mainstream channels doesn't help. kills all interaction and interest. CS streams literally have geographic political arguments during matches and insane trash talk, but they still don't emote chat it. The interaction and viewer engagement hits 100k ez and game still holds up in virality. I think valorant admins of the streams don't get how online interactions work other than trending a hashtag on Twitter.