The Spanish streaming community has produced yet another record-breaking Twitch broadcast. The final of the Kings League, an alternative soccer organization boosted by local streamers by TheGrefg and Ibai, drew a 90,000-person crowd in Barcelona on March 26. Online, the event’s official Twitch stream added more than 15 million aggregate views.
The Kings League is led by Gerard Pique, a soccer star who spent 15 seasons playing for F.C. Barcelona and the Spanish national team. Pique looked to revolutionize the beautiful game by bringing an updated version of it to Twitch. The Kings League features unusual rules, such as random powerups and rolling substitutions. Its blend of soccer and video games made it a hit with the Spanish gaming community, even before its blockbuster finale.
Shakira may think she is out of Pique’s league, but the legendary defender has shown that he can at least keep up with his ex’s record-setting video traffic. The 90,000 fans who packed into Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium for the Kings League final set a Guinness World Record by wearing masks in unison. Those spectators were joined by millions more on Twitch, and a YouTube version of the stream has added another 4.7 million views to the League’s impressive audience.
For the streamers who own Kings League teams, record-setting Twitch traffic is nothing new. Ibai (real name Ibai Llanos) got the most concurrent viewers in Twitch history when he hosted an influencer boxing event last year. That broadcast pushed Llanos past TheGrefg (real name David Cánovas Martínez), who was the previous record holder in that category.
Martínez proceeded to honor Llanos, who won a prestigious trophy at Los Premios Esland, an award show for Spanish-speaking creators. The inaugural edition of Los Premios delivered another big broadcast for Martínez, who attracted 1.75 million concurrent viewers during the event.
Llanos and Martínez are proving that massive viewership and fan interest lie at the intersection of streaming, video games, and sports. That idea is also beginning to take hold in America, where influencer boxing is an undeniable phenomenon and alternative sports teams like the Savannah Bananas are selling out stadiums.
Across the Atlantic, it’s time for the Kings League to prove it’s more than just a one-hit wonder. The event at Camp Nou was the final for the league’s first season, and its second go-around is set to begin in May.
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