The second split of the much-followed Kings League kicked off with Week 1 on May 7 — and it had a good start. The viewership numbers were almost the same as from the first week of the first split, albeit lesser, although the average concurrent viewership saw a rise.
The first week of the summer split saw no penalty shootouts, meaning teams are on three or zero points. Defending champion El Barrio began its title defense with a 2-5 loss to Aniquiladores FC in a repeat of last split’s final.
Week 1 of the Kings League summer split hit 589K Peak Viewers during the match between Saiyans FC and Ultimate Móstoles, which the latter won 2:6. This was a 24% dip from the corresponding week of the winter split, where interest was higher for the debut of this unique concept.
The summer split also saw a 4% fall in Hours Watched for Week 1, although it is pretty negligible, considering the stream this time lasted 30 min lesser. The ongoing event did see a 1.3% rise in the Average Viewers, pointing to the fact that there were more viewers per match at a given point than in the previous split’s first week.
These dips in numbers can be attributed to the fact that these games were shown on TV, as the league struck a deal with Cuatro, a Spanish free-to-air television channel. Hence, a part of the audience would have switched to live broadcasting on the telly instead of streaming.
This time around, the guest players for sides included the likes of Gonzalo Higuaín, Djibril Cissé, Ferran Corominas, Javier Espinosa, Borja Fernández, and Ibai Gómez. For the summer split, a new points system is in place, alongside a fresh playoff format, which will also be used in the simultaneously running Queens League.
The event continued to be a Spanish-only watch, while the viewership share was mostly taken up by Twitch, although it did see a drop of 9.10% from Week 1 of the winter split. YouTube seemed to gain almost all of this missing pie, as it raised its share by 7.67%, with TikTok also rising by 1.53%. Seemingly, Facebook (not broadcasting the action in split two) users from the first split preferred to catch the action this time on more user-friendly apps like YouTube and TikTok.
For those unaware, the Kings League, an amateur football media league, is run by former Spain and Barcelona defender Gerard Pique and popular Spanish streamer ibai. Many top content creators from the country, like rivers, DjMaRiiO, and TheGrefg, alongside former footballers Iker Casillas and Sergio Agüero, have bought stakes in teams as their presidents.
These personalities live stream the Kings League matches on their personal channels, participate in various media activities, and promote the league, making it a must-see for many fans. The selling point of this football competition is its tweaked format and different rules, which include a tie-breaker penalty shootout, handballs for throw-ins, unlimited substitutions, and the implementation of special "secret weapons."
There is also the Queens League, the female version of this competition whose first split began on May 6. It follows the same rules and format as the men’s tournament, including special players and a ten-second countdown clock, applied to possession before needing to shoot or turning over possession.
