Netflix today secured exclusive live streaming rights to La Velada del Año, the boxing and entertainment event created by Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos, for its 2027, 2028 and 2029 editions. The event, which has been broadcast mainly on Llanos' Twitch channel since 2021 and reached a peak of 9.3 million concurrent viewers in 2025, will stream on Netflix to a global audience. Netflix disclosed no financial terms, no event dates and no detail on advertising or sponsorship.

In Short

A very popular Spanish livestream where internet stars box each other in football stadiums is moving from Twitch to Netflix for three years, starting in 2027. It matters because millions of Spanish-speaking viewers watch it at the same time, and brands have sponsored it for years. What changes is who controls the stream, and whether those viewers will need a Netflix account to watch is something Netflix has not yet said.

What Netflix said

The announcement, published on Netflix's newsroom under the Entertainment category and tagged for Global and Spain, is dated 19 October 2026. According to Netflix, La Velada del Año "will stream on Netflix for the next three years (the 2027, 2028 and 2029 editions)." The subheading is more specific about exclusivity: the seventh edition, according to Netflix, "will stream exclusively live on Netflix," which the company describes as "the beginning of a new chapter in its international expansion."

The page is short. It contains four paragraphs about the event's growth, one quote from Llanos, a boilerplate paragraph about La Velada del Año and a press contact at Netflix. There is no price, no contract value, no date or venue for the 2027 edition, and no mention of which Netflix plans will carry it.

What the page does contain is a set of audience figures. According to Netflix, the fifth edition, held in 2025, "reached a peak of 9.3 million concurrent viewers, while average viewership has grown from approximately 1 million in 2021 to more than 6 million in 2026." Netflix also describes the event as "one of the biggest Spanish-language streaming events."

Llanos, quoted on the Netflix page, framed the move around scale and continuity. "In 2021, we put together the first La Velada in a concert venue in Barcelona, with no idea how far it could go. Five years later, millions of people have watched it at the same time, and bringing it to Netflix for the next three years gives us the opportunity to make it even bigger without losing what makes it special: the community that makes it all possible," Llanos said, according to Netflix.

Netflix's own closing line casts the format in industry terms. The move, according to Netflix, "marks the beginning of a new chapter for a format that, since its inception, has redefined the relationship between digital creators, live entertainment and mass audiences."

From a closed-door concert hall to La Cartuja

The event's history, as recorded on two Wikipedia pages captured today, explains why a global streaming service would want it. Both pages are editable and carry no fixed publication date; the English page was last edited on 19 October 2026 at 17:21 UTC and the Spanish page at 19:02 on the same day.

According to Wikipedia, the first edition took place on 26 May 2021 at the Sala Apolo in Barcelona. COVID-19 restrictions meant it was held behind closed doors, with only a few invited celebrities, and the card had three fights. The Spanish page adds that, during its broadcast, it became the second most-watched live stream on Twitch by simultaneous viewers, with 1,502,295.

A year later, the event moved to Badalona. The second edition was held on 25 June 2022 at the Pavelló Olímpic, a venue with capacity for 12,760 spectators, according to the Spanish Wikipedia page, which records a Twitch peak of 3,356,074 simultaneous viewers. That set the platform's record.

The jump to stadiums followed. According to Wikipedia, the third edition was held on 1 July 2023 at the Metropolitano in Madrid. The English page says the event "was estimated to have sold around 70,000 tickets, the highest attendance for a boxing event in Spain since 1930," while the Spanish page gives the stadium's capacity as 70,460 and says the tickets sold out in about an hour. The fourth edition, on 13 July 2024, filled the Santiago Bernabéu, with capacity for 78,297 according to the Spanish page, and was co-hosted by streamer Marina Rivers and television presenter María Patiño.

Seville took over from there. The fifth edition was held on 26 July 2025 at the Estadio La Cartuja, and the sixth returned to the same stadium on 25 July 2026. According to the English Wikipedia page, the sixth edition had ten fights; the Spanish page says those ten fights involved twenty participants, ten men and ten women, the largest female line-up in the event's history.

Netflix's summary of the same arc is brief: from "a small-scale first edition to filling some of Spain's largest stadiums, including Madrid's Metropolitano and Santiago Bernabéu, as well as Seville's La Cartuja."

A format that keeps changing

The card has not been fixed. According to English Wikipedia, the 2024 edition "introduced more variety in the match types, veering closer to professional wrestling," and the Spanish page lists the first dual fight, the first fight without headgear and a ten-participant bout. For 2025, Llanos confirmed at a press conference on 10 March 2025 that the event would return to one-on-one fights only, according to the English page. The sixth edition was presented at a press conference on 9 March 2026.

Music has become a fixed part of the product. The Spanish page lists stage performances in 2026 by Juanes, Yandel, Bad Gyal, Anuel AA and Lucho RK, plus artists who accompanied fighters to the ring. Netflix's boilerplate describes the event as combining "amateur boxing matches between internet personalities with live musical performances and a production designed for both in-person and digital audiences."

The audience numbers, and where the sources disagree

For a deal priced on reach, the numbers matter, and the three files do not line up perfectly.

Peak for 2025. Netflix and the English Wikipedia page both put the fifth edition's peak at 9.3 million concurrent viewers. The Spanish Wikipedia page says the 2025 broadcast "reached more than 10 million simultaneous viewers" (translated from Spanish). The headline of the news source the Spanish page cites for that sentence says the event exceeded 9 million viewers, not 10 million. This article uses Netflix's figure.

Record sequence. According to the English page, the Twitch record moved from more than 3.3 million (2022) to 3.4 million (2023), 3.8 million (2024) and 9.3 million (2025). The Spanish page gives exact counts for the first three of those: 3,356,074, 3,449,999 and 3,846,256. The English page describes the 2025 figure as the most-viewed livestream in Twitch history for an individual channel.

Peak versus average. Netflix's 2026 figure is an average, not a peak: "more than 6 million." No file gives a peak for the sixth edition. Netflix's "approximately 1 million" average for 2021 sits alongside the Spanish page's 1,502,295 peak for the same night, which is consistent rather than contradictory, since a peak is always higher than an average. The distinction is the same one television measurement draws between a single highest minute and an average minute rating, and streaming peaks generally count devices or streams rather than people.

2023 attendance. The English page's estimate of around 70,000 tickets sold and the Spanish page's 70,460-seat capacity are close. Boxer Sandor Martín, who helped organise that edition, is quoted on both pages saying before the event that he did not imagine 60,000 people watching boxing in Spain. The difference reflects a pre-event remark, not a competing count. The Spanish page also reports more than 80,000 people in attendance at La Cartuja in 2025; the English page gives no 2025 attendance.

Platform counts also carry a timing caveat. The 9.3 million record was set on 26 July 2025. Less than a month later, Twitch tightened its viewbot detection from August 21, 2025, after which third-party trackers recorded week-over-week viewership drops of 23 to 24 percent across the platform. None of the three files suggests La Velada's numbers were affected; the point is that concurrent-viewer peaks are platform-reported figures, and the sixth edition was the first measured under the stricter rules.

Twitch, then YouTube and TikTok, then Netflix

Distribution is the second point where the files differ. The English Wikipedia page says the event was "broadcast live from 2021 to 2026" on Llanos' Twitch channel. Netflix and the Spanish page both say the 2026 edition also streamed on YouTube and TikTok. According to Netflix, "Until now, La Velada del Año had primarily been streamed on Twitch via Ibai Llanos' channel. In 2026, the sixth edition expanded its distribution to YouTube and TikTok, ahead of the event entering a new era on Netflix in 2027."

That sequence matters. In 2026, the event was available on three free, ad-funded platforms at once. From 2027, according to Netflix, it will stream exclusively live on a subscription service. The Spanish Wikipedia page, last edited at 19:02 UTC on the day of the announcement, still lists Twitch, YouTube and TikTok as official broadcasters and does not mention Netflix at all; the English page, last edited at 17:21 UTC, cites a report from AS Meristation on the agreement.

Netflix's page does not say whether clips, highlights or simultaneous creator streams will remain on Twitch, YouTube or TikTok. Llanos' audience grew on those platforms, and creator events have historically relied on co-streams and reaction content to reach viewers who are not watching the main feed. Whether any of that survives an exclusive deal is not addressed.

The brands already attached

The Spanish Wikipedia page records sponsors for four editions, which gives a sense of who has been buying this audience. According to that page:

  • 2022: ElPozo, Everlast, Grefusa, Disney+, Spotify, Telepizza, Samsung and Pepsi Max.
  • 2023: ElPozo, ALSA, Revolut, Coca-Cola, Spotify, Grefusa, Mahou and iGraal.
  • 2024: Grefusa, ElPozo, Maxibon, PRIME, Mahou, Revolut, Spotify, G-SHOCK, ALSA, Cerave and VICIO.
  • 2025: ALSA, Spotify, Revolut, VICIO, Coca-Cola, InfoJobs, Grefusa, Nothing, Cerave, Mahou and Maxibon.

No sponsor list is given for 2026, though the Spanish page notes that singer Yami Safdie performed a Coca-Cola song on stage "as part of Coca-Cola's advertising" (translated from Spanish). Some names recur across years: Grefusa, Spotify, ALSA, Revolut and Mahou appear in at least three of the four lists. One of them, Disney+, is itself a subscription streaming rival to Netflix.

These are integrated sponsorships, built into the stage, the walkouts and the broadcast. Netflix's announcement says nothing about how they will work on Netflix, whether existing sponsors carry over, or whether Netflix will sell the inventory itself.

Why this matters for Netflix's ad business

Netflix's interest in live events is not new, and PPC Land has tracked how closely it is tied to advertising. In November 2023, Netflix began offering sponsorships in the US tied to cultural and live sports events, with global expansion planned for 2024. By July 2025, Netflix said its ads business would roughly double, with a slate including the Canelo vs. Crawford fight, weekly WWE and an NFL Christmas Day doubleheader, and stated that live events had so far been mostly US-based, with international expansion planned.

The numbers have grown since. In January 2026, Netflix reported more than $1.5 billion in 2025 ad revenue and a target of roughly $3 billion for 2026; the same results said the Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua fight drew a 33 million average minute audience. At its May 2026 upfront, Netflix said its ads plan reached more than 250 million monthly active viewers and that Dynamic Ad Insertion would extend to live content, buyable through advertisers' preferred DSPs. That mechanism is a form of SSAI, in which ads are stitched into the stream on the server rather than played by the device.

Live programming is a small part of Netflix's viewing but a large part of its sign-ups. In July 2026, Netflix said live content would account for about 5 percent of the content budget and about 1 percent of view hours, yet six of its top ten new-member sign-up days over five years came from live events. Two days later, Netflix was listed in the Trade Desk's Sellers and Publishers 500+ marketplace, as Netflix prepared programmatic access to pause ads and live sports inventory.

Spain and Latin America

Geography is where La Velada fits most directly. According to Netflix, the event brings together "some of the most popular digital personalities from Spain and Latin America." Spain is already one of Netflix's ad markets: Netflix sells ads in five European countries, including Spain, and will add nine more EMEA countries on March 1, 2027. That same expansion plan names Colombia and Peru among six Latin America and Asia-Pacific markets scheduled for 2027 without dates. The first Netflix edition of La Velada, also in 2027, would therefore land in a year when Netflix's Spanish-speaking ad footprint is set to grow.

For the AVOD side of the market, the trade is visible. A Spanish-language event that drew a 6 million average across Twitch, YouTube and TikTok in 2026 becomes subscription programming, with an ad-supported Netflix tier available in some of the countries where its audience lives. How many of those viewers already pay for Netflix, and how many would sign up, are questions no file answers.

Creators as programming

The deal also extends a pattern of Netflix licensing creator-led formats. In October 2025, Netflix agreed to stream video versions of 17 podcasts from Spotify Studios and The Ringer, on a non-exclusive basis. La Velada differs in two ways: it is live, and Netflix says it will be exclusive.

That has consequences for the creator economy around the event. The fighters are streamers, YouTubers and TikTok personalities whose own channels have been part of its promotion. Netflix describes the format as one that has "redefined the relationship between digital creators, live entertainment and mass audiences," and the deal tests whether that relationship holds when the main feed sits behind a subscription on CTV screens and mobile apps rather than on an open creator channel.

What the announcement leaves out

Several facts that matter to advertisers and to the creators involved are absent from the Netflix page:

  • Money. No fee, revenue share or contract value is given.
  • Dates and venues. No date or venue is given for the 2027 edition. The previous six editions were held between late May and late July.
  • Plans and markets. The page says the event will reach "a global audience" but does not say whether it will be available on all Netflix plans or in all countries.
  • Advertising. There is no mention of ad breaks, sponsorships, integrated brand placements or who sells them.
  • Other platforms. Nothing is said about clips, co-streams or highlights on Twitch, YouTube or TikTok.
  • Measurement. Netflix cites peak and average audiences for past editions on other platforms, but does not say how it will measure or report audiences for its own editions.

How the event has been received

Not everyone in Spanish boxing has welcomed the event's scale, according to Wikipedia. Kickboxer Lara Fernández criticised the lack of support for professional fighters. Featherweight boxer Jon Fernández called it good publicity for boxing. Sandor Martín, quoted on the English page, said "we can't expect La Velada del Año to solve Spanish boxing's endemic problems."

The most pointed analysis cited on both pages came from Randy Meeks, writing in Espinof in March 2023. In the English Wikipedia page's translation, Meeks wrote: "La Velada del Año isn't a hit because of the boxing, but because of the event in itself." The Spanish page adds a 2026 criticism from content creator Shannis, who said the selection of fighters lacked LGBT representation and followed a "hypernormative" profile (translated from Spanish).

That reading, an event built on its personalities rather than its sport, is also what Netflix appears to be buying. The company's description leads with audience size, stadiums and digital personalities. Boxing appears in the boilerplate, but the deal is priced on the crossover.

Timeline

Summary

Who: Netflix and Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos, creator of La Velada del Año, a boxing and entertainment event featuring content creators from Spain and Latin America.

What: Netflix secured the rights to stream the 2027, 2028 and 2029 editions of La Velada del Año, with the seventh edition streaming exclusively live on Netflix. The event has been broadcast mainly on Llanos' Twitch channel since 2021 and added YouTube and TikTok in 2026. According to Netflix, it peaked at 9.3 million concurrent viewers in 2025 and averaged more than 6 million in 2026. Spanish Wikipedia gives a higher 2025 peak of more than 10 million, a figure its own cited source does not support.

When: The announcement is dated 19 October 2026. The first Netflix edition is in 2027; no date has been given.

Where: The event has been held in Barcelona, Badalona, Madrid and Seville. Netflix says the stream will reach a global audience, and Spain is already one of its ad markets.

Why: Netflix has used live events to drive sign-ups and to build advertising inventory, with an ad revenue target of about $3 billion for 2026. La Velada gives it a Spanish-language live event with an audience in the millions, while the announcement leaves open how advertising, sponsorship and creator distribution will work.