The Kings League is the world’s favourite seven-a-side football league which mixes football with internet and live streaming culture. The league was a major success throughout 2023, opening to over 2.1M Peak Viewers and generating massive waves of popularity for the involved content creators. Now, the Americas’ Kings League Santander 2024 has completed its debut split, and the viewership for the league is similar to the popularity enjoyed by the Spanish Kings League in 2024.
Shortly after the league began play, the CEO Oriol Querol revealed they had goals to bring the circuit to other regions. In mid-2023, these plans were realised with the official announcement of the Américas Kings League. The league signed popular Mexican footballer Javier Hernández shortly after its announcement, highlighting the commitment and power of this football series. The league also brought on many of the Americas’ most popular content creators, such as WestCOL, Castro_1021, and TheDonato.
Viewership of the Kings League Santander 2024
The first split of the Kings League Santander opened to 14.67M Hours Watched across just under one hundred hours of broadcasting time. Compared to the original Spanish league’s 2024 viewership, the new Americas’ circuit was able to generate more watch time across the board, although it was unable to match the peak viewership of the Spanish league.
As it was the Kings League Santander’s debut split, viewership for the event reached its peak during the opening week, when the hype for the event was at its highest. The event generated 411.3K Peak Viewers during this first week, outperforming even its own grand finals, which reached 358.7K PV. Although the peak for the Americas’ circuit was slightly lower, it held its own against the Spanish Kings League with a slightly higher average viewership: the Kings League Santander 2024 maintained 154.6K Average Viewers throughout 10 weeks of matches.
One key factor influencing the viewership of the Americas’ circuit was its integration of multiple livestreaming platforms. It was able to reach a higher viewership than the Spanish league thanks to its utilisation of viewership across Twitch, Kick, YouTube Live, and even TikTok.
Westcol was the dominant streamer of the split, reaching 165.3K Peak Viewers for his team’s opening match. Powered by the popularity of the league and the Kings League brand, this stream became Westcol’s third-most-popular broadcast ever on Kick. The Colombian streamer was essentially responsible for the league’s entire viewership on the platform.
Westcol’s team West Santos FC was eliminated from the playoffs stage of the event in the their first match against Persas FC. Despite a nail-biting 4-5 finish for the match, westcol received only 71.9K PV for the match. Although he received low viewership for his team’s playoffs match, their placement earned them a spot in the upcoming 2024 Kings World Cup. The event will bring together the best teams from both sides of the globe, and will be held in Mexico, beginning on May 26, 2024. This first-of-its-kind event will surely bring high viewership, and westcol’s inclusion in the event will drive viewership even higher.
Highlights of the Final match between Real Titán and Raniza FC
Moving past the Kick streamer, the official broadcasting channels for the Kings League Santander were the next-three-most-popular broadcasters of the event. The Twitch channel stood ahead of the rest, reaching 121.2K Peak Viewers, and the TikTok channel found itself in between the Twitch and YouTube viewership with 100.6K PV.
Compared to this year’s Spanish Kings League event, the Kings League Santander achieved more than double its peak viewership on TikTok. The event’s popularity on TikTok, as well as the high viewership coming from Kick, was what gave it the edge over the Spanish circuit in terms of average viewership. If the league can continue to enjoy high viewership from these two platforms, it will likely continue to outperform the Spanish league.
Overall, the Kings League Santander’s first foray into the world of livestreaming was a massive success. The event was able to rival the viewership of the established Spanish circuit, although the hype for a new league surely benefited the Americas’ league. As 2024 continues, it will become clearer if this high viewership was a one-off hype-fueled result, or if the passionate American fans will continue to drive the viewership for the league to new heights.
