Every summer, Spanish Twitch streamer Ibai Llanos hosts a live-streamed boxing tournament called La Velada del Año. In just four years, it has grown from a relatively small event featuring fights between a few influencers in Spain to a massive global phenomenon featuring over 20 fighters and a host of musical artists. record 5.9 million Twitch users tuned in to watch this year’s event, which took place on July 13 at a full Stadium with capacity for 80,000 spectators in Madrid.
The biggest name on the bill was Will Smith, who appeared as the headliner and He led the crowd in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air TV show themeThe Oscar winner was the first English-speaking performer in the event’s history, but he was not the most popular of the night. According to data from StreamsCharts, the most viewed moment During the stream, which also set a record with 3.8 million simultaneous viewers, a boxing match was seen between two influencers, one from Spain and one from Chile.
The event is a perfect example of what internet popularity will look like in 2024. For starters, there are boxing matches. Hand-to-hand combat has been a promotional tactic for influencers for years. Examples appear across the spectrum, from controversial YouTuber-turned-MMA fighter Logan Paul to tech billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, who He made serious preparations for a cage fight last year against Zuckerberg I cancelled itIn an age when cultural prestige is defined by armies of parasocial fansthat live up to their name by getting into fierce and bitter rivalries With other fans, there’s an indelible power in watching these famous figures literally trade blows.
Of course, in reality, these influencers and internet personalities understand that it’s not really a competition. Ibai regularly collaborates with other streamers around the world, combining their audiences and fan bases for greater engagement and a higher profile. On the same day as The Night of the Year, YouTuber MrBeast uploaded a video titled “50 YouTubers fight for a million dollars.” The video is done in MrBeast’s usual frenetic style, but the format itself seems clearly inspired by Ibai Llanos’ tournament. Ibai himself is one of the 50 YouTubers featured in the video, which avoids any accusations from fans of both streamers.
The competition, which is intended to be broadcast on Twitch, is also inspired by an e-sports tournament, as much as a UFC fight. Ibai, who acts as a host and commentator for the evening’s matches, first found success on Twitch as a Spanish-speaking television host. League of Legends broadcaster. He has turned his streaming success into a media empire, which includes a televised talk show and co-founder of the League of Kingsa football league that optimizes the game for streaming by adding rules inspired by video games, such as power-ups. Video games are already a huge industrybut they are starting to become popular with sellerssuggesting that events like Night of the Year, which bring gaming culture into more traditional spaces, will become increasingly common on Twitch and off.
Twitch finds itself in a strange and paradoxical position. The streaming platform has seen A general decline in user and revenue growth over the past few years and has I never made a profit since it was acquired by Amazon in 2015. In February, the site He completely withdrew from Korea, which had been one of its biggest overseas markets. At the same time, however, Twitch streamers are bigger than ever as the overall livestream audience grows. Spain in particular has become A huge market for Twitch streamers, as they can broadcast to a global Spanish-speaking audience while taking advantage of Profitable European Marketing offers.