Kick Makes Major Strides in Esports Broadcasting with Record TCL Winter 2025 Viewership
In recent years, Kick has successfully expanded into emerging livestreaming markets across Latin America and the MENA region. The platform has been strategically moving into esports broadcasting, securing rights to major events from organizers like BLAST, PGL, and ESL last year. This strategy has now yielded its first significant breakthrough with the TCL Winter 2025 tournament.
The recent Turkish Championship League (TCL) Winter 2025 tournament demonstrated Kick’s growing potential in the esports space. Delivering the platform’s highest peak viewership for an esports event to date. The tournament concluded on March 9 with Papara SuperMassive defeating Eternal Fire in a thrilling 3-2 series, earning them qualification to represent Turkey at the EMEA Masters Winter 2025.
While the finals drew substantial viewership, the Week 2 clash between Bushido Wildcats and BBL Dark Passage emerged as the tournament’s most-watched match, peaking at over 86,300 concurrent viewers. This impressive figure highlights the growing popularity of both Kick and the Turkish esports scene.
Turkish Rise
Bushido Wildcats, a newcomer to the TCL, was formed through a partnership between İstanbul Wildcats and prominent Turkish streamers Anıl “HolyPhoenix” Işık and Ahmet “Jahrein” Sonuç. HolyPhoenix brings competitive credibility as an accomplished League of Legends player with multiple World Championship appearances and numerous TCL accolades. Jahrein, one of Turkey’s pioneering content creators since 2012, adds substantial reach to the team’s fanbase through their co-casting support.
Their opponents, BBL Dark Passage, carry their own significant legacy. Created when BBL Esports acquired Dark Passage last year, the team continues the storied history of Turkey’s first professional esports organization, founded in 2003. Dark Passage entered the League of Legends scene in 2012 and quickly established themselves as hometown heroes.
What’s particularly notable about TCL Winter 2025 is the shift in viewing habits. While previous tournaments split viewership between YouTube and Twitch, this event saw Kick emerge as the overwhelmingly dominant platform. This shift demonstrates both Kick’s successful penetration into the Turkish livestreaming market and the drawing power of the tournament’s co-streamers.
Streaming charts
Leading the co-streaming charts was Ferit “wtcN” Karakaya, a former League of Legends player who briefly substituted for Dark Passage in 2016. His coverage of the BBL Dark Passage versus Bushido Wildcats match attracted 39,600 peak viewers, setting a new personal record for his Kick channel. Jahrein and HolyPhoenix followed closely behind, with Jahrein nearly matching wtcN’s numbers.
All the tournament’s top co-streamers previously built substantial followings on platforms like Twitch and YouTube before transitioning to Kick, where they’re now establishing new viewership records while benefiting from favorable revenue splits and other platform advantages.
The TCL Winter 2025 tournament stands as the most popular TCL event in recent years, driven primarily by loyal viewers following co-streamers on Kick. With regional rivalries intensifying and Kick continuing to develop its esports broadcasting capabilities, the platform shows tremendous potential for growth, particularly in its strong MENA and Latin American markets.
