The Spaniard <a href="http://www.world-today-news.com/spanish-streamer-breaks-twitch-record-with-3-3-million-viewers-now/" title="Spanish streamer breaks Twitch record with 3.3 million viewers | NOW”>Ibai Llanos Garatea (29) is the biggest streamer Europe has to offer on Twitch. With 3.8 million, it holds the record for the most concurrent viewers on Twitch. The gaming streamer is in second place worldwide, only the US-based KaiCenat is even bigger. With a huge reach, Ibai is also exciting for Twitch competitor Kick.
How big is Ibai on Twitch? Ibai was watched for 104 million viewing hours last year, although he was “only” on air for 1,572 hours. Only Kai Cenat has more viewing hours.
However, when it comes to peak viewership, Ibai far surpasses all other streamers. At its peak, 3.8 million simultaneous viewers watched it. He broke the record in July 2024 when he hosted a boxing event at which Will Smith appeared.
But Ibai’s “bread and butter” business and also his passion is League of Legends. Here he casts the LoL Worlds in Spanish and has his own e-sports team.
In Germany, Trymacs imitates some formats with which Ibai had huge success on Spanish-language Twitch, such as streamer boxing:
Twitch: Trymacs begs Apple to finally put more money into mobile games
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Kick is a dilemma for big streamers like Ibai
This is what he said in advance of Kick’s offer: Some time ago Ibai said that if Kick made him an offer, he would take a close look at it and check:
If they pay me an obscene amount in two years, I’ll think about it very carefully.
He’s in a quandary because we’ve known since Kick signed xQc in June 2023 that the streaming service pays extraordinarily well, almost indecently well, but a switch to Kick is also associated with damage to its image. Because Kick is associated with an online casino and gambling is generally considered “damaging to the brand” and “not family-friendly.”
“Even my hand was shaking”
That was the offer now: As Ibai tells it, he was actually made an offer about a month ago.
Ibai says the level of mute he was offered was so high that he “shit his pants” and “his hands were shaking.”
He says literally
The thing about Kick that no one wants to admit is that no one gives you money in exchange for nothing. Kick came at me a month ago with the full band. Knekro already knows the offer they made to me. I peed my pants, even my hand was shaking.
He has no further comment on the offer. But one can probably assume that he rejected it.
What does he mean by the thing no one wants to admit? Now this is speculation, but one can assume that Kick also has certain demands on a streamer that they pay so much money to.
Kick usually offers “non-exclusive contracts”, so streamers can continue to be on Twitch and YouTube.
But Kick obviously expects a streamer to make a certain number of hours of content on Kick and to play games there and advertise it. Kick’s hope is certainly that Ibai will bring gambling closer to the community he has built on Twitch and that his fans will leave money in the online casino Stake.
Since Ibai is known for many things that are great to bet on, such as e-sports matches in LoL or sports events, this explains why Kick would spend a lot to bring him and his huge community onto the platform tempts.
Kick is the streaming service for the bad boys and girls
This is what lies behind it: The problem with Kick is that if Ibai moved there, he would have to give up practically all of the “normal business relationships” he has built up over the years and would then be more or less dependent on the crypto casino Stake as an exclusive advertising partner.
Therefore, Kick has proven to be an alternative in the past, especially for controversial streamers who are not “family-friendly” anyway, such as gambling fans xQc and Trainwreck, scandal streamer Adin Ross or the “shameless e-girl Amouranth”. None of the streamers who have switched to Kick are really considered for a partnership with a major company. However, Ibai has an impeccable reputation and a lot to lose.
Therefore, one can assume that even record offers, like for xQc, which received $100 million, will make Ibai tremble, but not to change the platform: The German streamer MontanaBlack explained in June 2023 what a Switching to Kick means: Twitch streamer MontanaBlack reveals why he doesn’t switch to Kick: “Then I’ll be the idiot again”
