The Kings League bets on the ‘Pirlo effect’ to consolidate sponsors: “Our business is sportainment”

In the route sheet was already the Queens Leaguethe women’s football competition, as well as the Prince Cup (childish), but the key was in increase sponsorships, consolidate audiences y become a benchmark of ‘sportainment’ (sports and entertainment).

Andrea Pirlo, Jijantes player, in Cuatro

Something that they have achieved through dramatic blows such as the fact that Andrea Pirlo will play on Sunday as ‘player 14’ of the Gerard Romero’s Brothers FC, one of the best-known faces of the project. The Italian myth joins the list of ex-soccer players who have been in one of the Kings League teams. The most notorious case was that of Ronaldinhowhose participation summoned more than two million viewers.

Unlike the appearance of the Brazilian, that of the 2006 world champion comes in a more mature context for the Kings League. The most obvious example is that the match between Jijantes and Pío FC, will be broadcast at 9:00 p.m. on Cuatro. ‘Prime time’ schedule on traditional television for a product that, despite being born in January, is already a multiplatform reality with large advertisers that have grown in the second ‘split’, which began in May.

Alex Soriano, the commercial ‘brain’ of Kosmos

“At the end of 2022, everything was a project for the future that ‘we hoped would go well’. Months later we can talk about consolidation. We are grateful to the brands that bet on us without yet knowing if it would explode“, account to THE SPANISH NEWSPAPERfrom the Prensa Ibérica group, Alex Soriano, commercial director of the Kings League, the same position he holds at Kosmos, for which this competition is an absolute priority after the closure of Kosmos Tennis and Kosmos Managementdivisions dedicated to the racket business.

The decision came five months after the end of Davis Cup deal between the company founded in 2017 and the International Tennis Federation. Precisely, Soriano is one of Piqué’s strong menwhom he defines as “an outstanding man who has the same winning mentality he had on the field” and whose mix with Ibai “has been a winner for everyone, allowing them to innovate and dare with different things such as the Balloon World Cup”.

Before Kosmos, Soriano had been at the same company for almost 15 years, “which was like my home, but then they offered me the opportunity to join a new and very ambitious project in my sector and in Barcelona,” says a professional who comes from Beach Soccer Worldwidethe governing body of beach soccer, a modality that also emerged as an alternative to traditional soccer.

“Long-term” collaboration with Mediaset

The main task that Soriano carried out was exploitation and management of television rights, a key experience in the irruption of the Kings League, a competition that has expanded its limits beyond Twitch, the platform that it has used as the base of its expansion. At the beginning of May, Kosmos and Mediaset signed “a long-term collaboration” to broadcast several games through Cuatro.

“The agreement is a clear commitment by the chain to reach new audiences. The first data confirm this, with a high percentage of followers under 34 years of age. Cuatro seeks to rejuvenate the audience and both Kings and Queens are the perfect product”, explains Soriano, who, like Kosmos, is not concerned about the data from the first broadcasts, with audience shares of 3.5% and audiences of up to 382,000 viewers.

These are slightly lower data than those reported by the news program Cuatro in that slot (4.5% share and up to 410,000 viewers), although for the Kings League it represents one more window for advertisers and points to the achieved target. “It’s an opportunity to reach audiences that have a harder time getting into Twitch. They will be complementary”, defends Soriano.

An ‘engagement’ of 150% for advertisers

In addition, the commercial director insists that they were “clear from the first moment that Either we went to a main chain, in ‘prime time’ and open, or we didn’t go“. The question now is to know what treatment of the data Mediaset does, although for this the “long term” is cited as an argument.

On Twitch, the number of average viewers has also moderated: from 225,000 on the first day of the second ‘split’ to 145,000 on the fourth day, according to data from StreamsCharts, the reference source for measuring Twitch audiences. But both television and purely digital data will grow with the ‘Pirlo effect’ this weekend.

“The sponsoring brands that have published content of value of the competition with presidents and players have increased their ‘engagement’ (commitment of a user to a brand) by more than 150%. That says it all,” claims Soriano. The best sample of advertiser satisfaction is in InfoJobs, which gives its name to the Kings League.

“The world of entertainment and advertising is undergoing a revolution due to changes in the forms of content consumption and the competition helps television to offer other content“, defended Nilton Navarro, Brand Manager of InfoJobs, after the premiere in Cuatro.

Navarro focused on the brands that “bought space” in the broadcast, such as Cupra, Globo, Mercedes-Benz o Tanqueray. “I am sure that the television audience will increase as it consolidates in the competition and there are those ‘hype’ moments that the team presidents know how to do very well,” added the manager.

The second league with the most views on TikTok

For his part, Soriano, commercial director of the Kings League, emphasizes the multiplatform approach. “In the first ‘split’ more than 220 million views on VOD (video on demand) with peaks of 2.16 million and average audiences of 557,000 viewers”, explains the commercial manager of Kosmos.

Another figure that stands out is that they are the second league in the world with more views on TikTok, “only behind the UEFA Champions League, more than triple that of the Premier League or ten times more than Serie A. We are also the one with the most ‘engagement’ above the NFL, NBA or MLB”. These are the data that Kosmos brings to negotiations with very different sponsors.

“InfoJobs and Oysho (the main sponsor of Queens) are different, but they bet on us without yet knowing if it would explode. Disparate brands, but with similar objectives: to bring their services and products closer to the youngest audiences. I would venture to say that we have the competitions that best allow for engagement in the 18-36 age segment“, defends Serrano, who despite the comparisons with other tournaments, emphasizes the multidisciplinary nature of the Kings League.

The player salary crisis

“Yes, we play with a ball that has to end up in a goal, and, therefore, we are football, but we have new rules and others for water polo, basketball, handball… We are a different product. I don’t think we are anyone’s enemy, we make our way and want to break limits. We try to make a ‘sportainment’ product that engages young people in our own way”, claims the commercial director of Kosmos, who has already had to face several crises.

The most recent had to do with player salaries. In fact, it was one of the topics covered in ‘Chup Chup’, the program that takes place after each day. Pablo Beguer, xBuyer player, current leader of the second ‘split’, argued before Gerard Piqué that “the league is going very well and we could be a little more compensated”. It should be remembered that the Kings League pays, as a base, 75 euros to each footballer per game.

“It is true that they earn little, because the league spends a lot so that people can enjoy themselves,” Piqué replied, who urged them to form a committee. In consultation with this newspaper, the organization of the Kings League explains the following: “It has already been said publicly on several occasions that there would be an increase in salaries, but it was not defined that it would be at the start of the second ‘split’. We recently had a meeting with the players. We’ll fix it soon, but privately.”

The ‘Pirlo effect’ to convince other audiences

The ‘cache’ of the footballers that go beyond the ’11’ are negotiated separately. It is the case of Andrea Pirlowhich will become the ‘player 14’, extraordinary name that will take the Italian to play a game with Jijantes FC. It is a coup d’état to settle collaborations with advertisers like Adidas.

The sportswear manufacturer is responsible for the equipment of the teams, that are sold at 69.99 euros in the Kings League store. That of Pirlo, a double movement with which to attract a more traditional public and increase the competitive tension that convinces the youngest.

“It’s hard for these to be 90 minutes watching a full football match on television or tennis matches of three or four hours”, reasons Soriano. A product, that of the Kings League, “where things happen constantly”: secret weapons, the dice, the penalties-president…

“I don’t think traditional sport is dead, much less, but to engage according to which younger audiences, it is necessary to go a step further. And it is what we put our efforts into”, says Soriano, the commercial ‘brain’ of a competition that adds up and continues beyond those who still view its development with suspicion outside of traditional sport.