European IRL streamer events are growing in popularity and power
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 3:43 am
Attracting massive IRL audiences and even more impressive livestream viewership figures, 2022 has been marked by a number of amateur sporting events hosted by some of the most popular streamers in France, Spain and the UK. From motorsports to boxing and football, European internet celebrities are blurring the lines between online and offline entertainment formats – and bringing their communities along for the ride. The streamers’ influence is palpable, tangible and suddenly mainstream.
Key points
Every month, records are broken for simultaneous viewers.
Highly produced and professional: streamers' events are adopting the codes that were once the calling cards of linear television.
Big name sponsors are lining up to get in on the action.
Streaming communities are characterized by closer relationships than communities on other social networks.
In June, Spanish streamer Ibai (12 million followers on Twitch) attracted a record 3.3 million concurrent viewers to the La Velada del Año II boxing event, which played to a sold-out crowd of 12,000 in Barcelona.
This was followed in France by the F4 GP Explorer car race, instigated chief of vp and training email database by YouTuber Squeezie (17.4 million followers on YouTube) and held at the country’s legendary Bugatti Le Mans circuit. Some 40,000 spectators attended the IRL event , which set a new French record of 1 million concurrent viewers on Twitch .
That record was broken a month later, when 1.2 million concurrent viewers tuned in IRL, and 20,000 people turned out to watch Eleven Allstars, a football match pitting the top streamers from France and Spain against each other.
IRL events hosted by Twitch streamers are nothing new. The first charity event ZEvent, created by Twitch streamer ZeratoR (1.495 million followers), was held in 2016. But over the years, they have become more frequent and more elaborate in design.
“[GP Explorer] highlights two things: It legitimises the internet, it legitimises platforms and especially Twitch,” says Jérémy Chabrier, founder of streaming influencer marketing agency Madi Stream . “ There have been other big events, but the highly professional production level of this one legitimises content creators. As Squeezie said, it’s like putting a big stamp on it that says ‘OK, we can do this . ’”
Key points
Every month, records are broken for simultaneous viewers.
Highly produced and professional: streamers' events are adopting the codes that were once the calling cards of linear television.
Big name sponsors are lining up to get in on the action.
Streaming communities are characterized by closer relationships than communities on other social networks.
In June, Spanish streamer Ibai (12 million followers on Twitch) attracted a record 3.3 million concurrent viewers to the La Velada del Año II boxing event, which played to a sold-out crowd of 12,000 in Barcelona.
This was followed in France by the F4 GP Explorer car race, instigated chief of vp and training email database by YouTuber Squeezie (17.4 million followers on YouTube) and held at the country’s legendary Bugatti Le Mans circuit. Some 40,000 spectators attended the IRL event , which set a new French record of 1 million concurrent viewers on Twitch .
That record was broken a month later, when 1.2 million concurrent viewers tuned in IRL, and 20,000 people turned out to watch Eleven Allstars, a football match pitting the top streamers from France and Spain against each other.
IRL events hosted by Twitch streamers are nothing new. The first charity event ZEvent, created by Twitch streamer ZeratoR (1.495 million followers), was held in 2016. But over the years, they have become more frequent and more elaborate in design.
“[GP Explorer] highlights two things: It legitimises the internet, it legitimises platforms and especially Twitch,” says Jérémy Chabrier, founder of streaming influencer marketing agency Madi Stream . “ There have been other big events, but the highly professional production level of this one legitimises content creators. As Squeezie said, it’s like putting a big stamp on it that says ‘OK, we can do this . ’”