On April 28, a massive power outage swept across several European countries, with Spain and Portugal hit the hardest. The blackout caused widespread disruptions, from mobile network failures and traffic light outages to more serious incidents like halted metro services and airport operations. The livestreaming world wasn’t spared either: more than half of the content creators in both countries were forced offline, leading to a sharp drop in viewership across esports tournaments and streaming platforms generally.
The blackout affected France, Germany, and Andorra, though local authorities moved quickly to restore power wherever possible. By midday on April 28, most European energy providers had managed to bring electricity back online. However, the recovery process in Spain and Portugal took significantly longer. At the time of writing, most countries have addressed the immediate aftermath, though it may take several more days to fully resolve all remaining issues.
While the blackout caused chaos across multiple sectors in Europe, the livestreaming world felt the shockwaves in a big way. In Spain and Portugal, Twitch’s active creator communities, streamer activity was effectively cut in half overnight. Many top names, who usually draw massive audiences, went completely dark.
The impact? A dramatic crash in viewership. Only one Spanish streamer made it into the top 100 for audience size on the day, quite a shift, considering there’s usually at least a dozen. Moreover, overall daily Hours Watched dropped by over 70% in both countries, sending ripple effects through everything from casual streams to major esports broadcasts.
One of the clearest signs of the disruption came from the LEC Spring 2025, Europe’s flagship League of Legends esports competition. Spanish-language viewership, typically one of the pillars of the broadcast’s success, nosedived by a staggering 97.5% on April 28 alone.
Given that Spain represents a huge portion of the broader Hispanic Twitch community, the blackout had a ripple effect on the overall statistics for Spanish streamers and viewers. Over 20% of the entire community went offline on April 28, and content consumption in Spanish plummeted by more than 45%.
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Countries are generally managing to recover from the aftermath of the incident, but the true cause remains a mystery. While there’s no confirmed information yet, rumors are circulating, ranging from a large-scale cyberattack to rare atmospheric phenomena. However, none of these theories have been substantiated so far. Experts state that it will take about a week for full infrastructure recovery. As for how quickly the true cause will be identified, that remains entirely uncertain.