Kick hits new milestone in esports thanks to StarLadder Budapest Major audience

Kick has reached six-figure esports viewership for the first time ever as a result of the strong audience brought by the StarLadder Budapest CS2 Major.

According to Esports Charts, Kick peaked at 141,027 viewers on the first day of the StarLadder Budapest Major Stage 1 on November 24th. At the time, there were two matches being played: Legacy vs. FlyQuest and PARIVISION vs. The Huns.

Most of the Kick audience came from Alexandre “Gaules” Borba’s broadcast during Legacy (Brazil) vs. FlyQuest (Australia). Gaules is the No. 1 streamer in Brazil, and he’s prioritizing Kick over Twitch and YouTube during the Major due to financial reasons, as he said before the tournament started.

To secure the broadcasting rights for this Major, this was the only option we could find. Basically, it was either Kick or we wouldn’t be able to broadcast it at all. Between not broadcasting or bringing it to a platform without ads, where everyone in the chat is relaxed, and those who took the time to test the platform in recent months approved… Between not broadcasting and broadcasting on Kick, we chose to broadcast on Kick.

As a result of this partnership, Gaules is only broadcasting the live feed on the Kick stream. His Twitch and YouTube streams only include the audio, scoreboard, minimap, and his camera.

The tendency is that Gaules will be able to pull even greater numbers throughout the tournament, as he’ll broadcast FURIA games once they enter the competition in Stage 3. He’s the only streamer in Brazil who acquired the broadcast rights for the StarLadder Budapest Major.

Kick’s StarLadder Budapest Major audience is far better than any esports event

Kick post shy numbers in other esports events, in comparison to the StarLadder Budapest Major. Its best event until then was FISSURE Playground 2, a tier-one CS2 tournament, in September.

The Stake-backed streaming platform peaked at 85,610 viewers during FISSURE Playground 2, while the tournament had two simultaneous matches running: G2 vs. Legacy and FaZe Clan vs. Falcons.

However, the first day of the StarLadder Budapest Major surpassed the FISSURE Playground 2 peak viewership by 64%, as noted by Esports Charts.

Here are the other three esports events that drew big viewership to Kick:

• VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) 2025 EMEA Stage 2: 84,330 peak viewers
• League of Legends TCL Winter 2025: 81,691 peak viewers
• Fortnite Shong Cup: 77,972

Feature image credit: © Kick

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