Stream Report Issue #244

Twitch's Biggest Stream Is Moving to Netflix

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Netflix has signed a three-year exclusive deal to stream Ibai Llanos' La Velada del Año, starting with the seventh edition in 2027. La Velada is the creator boxing and music event that has broken Twitch's viewership record more than once, and from next year the main show won't be on Twitch at all.

Ibai explained the deal in a 24-minute video in Spanish (opens in a new tab), and he was unusually open about the offers he turned down and what changed his mind. I've translated the key parts below.

Why Netflix Won

Ibai still owns 100% of La Velada. He has licensed the broadcast rights for three editions, the same arrangement he had with Twitch, and says he can take it to another platform or back to YouTube when the contract ends.

He also said Netflix wasn't the first platform to come calling:

"I've received offers from traditional TV networks and from different streaming platforms, one of which, as you can imagine, has a lot of money. [...] The streaming platform, for example, offered me triple what I was earning, just to broadcast La Velada exclusively on its platform. [...] You know which platforms I'm talking about." - Ibai Llanos (translated from Spanish)

He didn't name it. He turned those offers down because they only paid him personally and put nothing into the event, and he wanted a platform that would also invest in making La Velada bigger.

La Velada is run by a team of five or six people, and Ibai says it had hit a ceiling: sponsors couldn't pay more, ticket prices couldn't go any higher, and fans expected a bigger show every year. Netflix offered him more personally, plus a bigger production and marketing budget, after he shared the event's full finances with them.

Twitch Had It Exclusively Until This Year

Twitch held the exclusive broadcast rights from the second edition onward, as part of Ibai's streaming contract:

The detail in Ibai's video that stood out most to me is that 65% of the people who watched this year's edition on YouTube watched on a TV. Given the choice, most of La Velada's audience was already watching it like television, so Netflix is a less dramatic change for viewers than it first sounds.

The Logistics: What's Changing (and What Isn't)

Here's what changes for viewers:

  • The main show: Netflix only, included in a normal subscription with no extra pay-per-view.
  • Where you can watch: all 194 countries where Netflix is available, translated into the local language.
  • The build-up: the fighter reveals, weigh-ins, interviews and artist announcements stay free on his Twitch, YouTube and TikTok channels.
  • Tickets: prices for the in-person event won't change.

What This Means for the Creator Economy

The platforms that made Ibai offers were only paying for him, and Netflix won the event by paying to grow La Velada as well.

It's also a very different deal from Netflix's other creator moves, like licensing The Stokes Twins' video archive on a non-exclusive basis. La Velada is exclusive and live, and it comes two months after YouTube was reported to be offering creators millions to stay off Netflix.

What it loses is chat. Watching with millions of people reacting in real time, and with other streamers co-streaming it to their communities, is a big part of La Velada's appeal. Netflix has no live chat and hasn't said whether co-streaming will be allowed.

Results go in next week's issue.

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Pete's Content Corner

My weekly picks from across the content creation world.

  1. YouTube is piloting an invite-only Shorts bonus (opens in a new tab) that pays selected Partner Program channels a guaranteed monthly amount for hitting an upload target, plus a bonus based on engaged views. One invite shared on X (opens in a new tab) offered $300 a month for 16 Shorts.
  2. Twitch's sponsorship tool now flags what you say during a campaign (opens in a new tab). A feature called Campaign Assist posts an alert to your Activity Feed if you mention things like explicit language, alcohol, drugs or politics. It looks like the first visible use of the stream transcription Dan Clancy confirmed earlier this month.
  3. YouTube will now automatically pause uploads, live streams and custom thumbnails (opens in a new tab) on channels where it spots unusual activity, so hackers can't post to your channel while you're locked out. Viewers can still watch your existing videos, and YouTube says reviews usually take under 24 hours. If it happens to you, you'll see a banner in YouTube Studio with next steps.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to read Stream Report.

Pete ✌️

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