Mediaset it needs new content to put an end to the audience crisis it has been suffering for months, both on Telecinco and Cuatro, because both channels have just ended the worst April in their history. The second channel of the group will incorporate from this weekend the broadcast of the Kings League, the competition created by Gerard Piqué and some of the youtubers y streamers most famous in Spain, such as Ibai Llanos.
Mediaset has closed an agreement with Kosmos, the company belonging to the former Barça player, for the acquisition of the free-to-air broadcast rights for the second season of the Kings League and the first of the Queens League (women’s league). The chain explains that this alliance “represents the beginning of a long-term collaboration between the audiovisual group and the company founded and chaired by Gerard Piqué”. It should not be forgotten that Mediaset already signed an agreement with Piqué a couple of years ago for the broadcast of several Messi PSG matches in the French league.
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The agreement to offer the Kings League on Cuatro, which industry sources estimate at around 900,000 euros for 12 days, starts this weekend and includes the live broadcast on Cuatro of the most attractive match of each day in both leagues. Likewise, Mediaset will offer the summaries and the best moments of the pre-match and post-match programs: Chup Chup y After.
The broadcast of this competition, however, will not be exclusively, because viewers will be able to continue watching those matches through Twitch, the platform for streaming where the Kings League was born and has triumphed among a young audience that has been seduced by an interactive window that has nothing to do with traditional television. Mediaset’s first challenge will therefore be to convince this target that it is better to sit in front of the television to watch a game of their favorite competition instead of doing it on Twitch.
The business for Piqué, however, is quite round, because the Kings League brand is reinforced with the support of an important audiovisual group that will enhance the value of the advertisers and sponsors that this competition originally provides and that are prior to the agreement with Mediaset. What’s more, he will be able to increase the profitability he gets from them thanks to the exposure that he will now achieve on open television like Cuatro and in prime time (8:00 p.m.), which was another of the ex-Barça player’s demands: the Kings League I had to go to a major chain and at a prime time slot. As for the advertising cake, Mediaset will be able to feed on the advertising breaks that cover the broadcast of each 40-minute game that is divided into two parts.
What audience can the Kings League get on Cuatro?
With the Kings League, Mediaset has achieved one of the most attractive products among young audiences but, beyond the aesthetic part, it now has the challenge of turning this play into an audience to improve Cuatro’s data (4.8% share in April). The competition kicks off this weekend with a match in the women’s league on Saturday (PIO FC-Aniquiladoras FC of the Queens League Oysho) and another in the men’s league on Sunday (Porcinos FC-xBuyer Team).
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These matches will be broadcast at 8:00 p.m., a section that is now occupied by the news four a day which last week achieved a 4.1% share and 316,000 viewers on average. And therein lies the key, because you cannot compare the measurement that is done on television with the one that is usually done to measure content on platforms like Twitch.
The 2.1 million viewers achieved by the final of the first season of the Kings League still resonate, a figure that referred to the peak of connected devices and not the average audience (much less the share) which is what rules in television and serves to transform investment in content into advertising revenue. The organizers of the Kings League estimate the audience for the first season of the competition at an average of 557,000 devices, although it must be remembered that users from all over the world are included there. Of the public that watches it from Spain, what percentage will stop watching it on Twitch and go to Cuatro?