The Kings League A sporting competition for the lean-in generation
After a prolonged period of the sporting calendar being dominated by the same storied competitions, new technology and a need to stoke fandom has ushered in new sports challengers. Formula E has started challenging Formula 1 with its electric racing series targeting eco-conscious viewers and sponsors. Cricket has moved to address its dwindling youth following with The Hundred: a time-pressured competition that encourages more action-packed moments. Despite these attempts to re-fashion sport for modern audiences, these competitions have largely stuck to tried-and-tested methods when it comes to distribution and engagement. Many are trying to build fanbases through free-to-air TV channels. While offering significant reach, linear TV audiences are declining and the lean-back viewing experience fails to dovetail with how Gen Z audiences like to consume entertainment.
However, the more recent crop of sports disruptors has struck a formula that is beginning to make creators, gamification, and social interactive experiences a key part of the action. Among those is the Kings League, a seven-a-side football competition created by the former FC Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué and popular Twitch stream Ibai Llanis. This sports franchise uses gaming characteristics to create a spectacle more akin to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The matches take place over two 20-minute halves, with each team choosing five golden cards that provide bonuses such as removing an opposition player or being awarded an instant penalty. There are unlimited substitutions and each game starts with the teams sprinting to the centre of the pitch to secure the ball. A goal sparks an explosive display of fireworks and strobe lighting reminiscent of the hit online video game Rocket League.
The Kings League leans heavily into gamification, a sensible move given the high gamer penetration among consumers. As of Q4 2022, 62% of consumers are gamers (across US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Sweden, South Korea, and Brazil). When it comes to live sports video consumers, 28% play games on a console every month compared to the consumer average of 23%.
The popular HBO Series The Last of Us demonstrated how streaming TV can capitalise on gaming fandom by producing shows that closely replicated the original game. The Kings League is a sporting equivalent where characteristics from games and traditional football competitions are given equal weight to drive engagement from gamers and sports fans alike.
A similar balance is also struck when it comes to fandom. Traditional sports fandom is largely driven by a player’s skill and the accolades of clubs. Alongside appearances from football stars such as former Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, the Kings League had a masked player known as ‘Enigma’, whose identity fuelled significant speculation on social media channels before being unveiled as the Cádiz CF player Nano Mesa.
The most significant departure from the traditional sports playbook lies in the Kings League distribution approach. By broadcasting through the livestreaming platform Twitch, the competition caters to Gen Z’s preference of wanting to lean-in and engage with the content they are consuming, such as chatting with the community, sharing emojis, making donations, or earning viewer rewards. The Kings League has leaned on the star power of Piqué and huge popularity of Ibai Llanos (13 million Twitch followers as of Q1 2023) to funnel hundreds of thousands of fans directly into the channel before being globally distributed on Twitch. Such a move is free of the complex distribution rights agreements that govern traditional sports. This distribution approach allows the Kings League to serve lean-in behaviours while offering free-to-view access – a potent combination for building fandom quickly among Gen Z. So far, it has proven effective: The Kings League final held in March 2023 attracted 92,522 into Barcelona’s Camp Nous stadium, drawing a peak of more than two million viewers across Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok on March 26, 2023.
Whether this is a viable broadcasting approach for the long-term is the next question the Kings League must answer. A decision to go down the pay-TV or streaming TV route maybe a mistake given the financial barrier it creates for many younger fans. Keeping cricket behind a paywall in the UK has arguably played a part in eroding the fanbase – an impact The Hundred is now trying to rectify. Ultimately, The Kings League may thus be better served creating its own platform where it can fully own its audience and billing relationships. This will allow it to dictate which lean-in behaviours it wants to monetise and how, to create a truly fan-funded sport.
Roles
This report is relevant to the following roles:
Audience Insight