Background and career
Ibai Llanos Garatea (Spanish: [iˈβaj ˈʎanos ɡaɾaˈtea], born 26 March 1995), better known mononymously as Ibai, is a Spanish internet celebrity, streamer, and esports commentator. He was a content creator for G2 Esports from 2020 to 2021. He is the co-founder of the esports organisation KOI. He is also the founder and president of Porcinos FC and Rōnin FC, teams that compete in the Kings League Spain and Tercera Catalana, respectively. On the live streaming platform Twitch, Ibai operates the second most-followed channel according to analytics company Social Blade. On the same platform in 2021, he created La Velada del Año, which since its second edition has been the most watched live broadcast every year consecutively. On YouTube, he has more than 17 million subscribers on his main channel and a total of over five billion views. In 2021, Forbes Spain named him the most influential social media influencer in Spain.
Ibai was born in the Deusto district of Bilbao, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in Spain on 26 March 1995. Due to the 2008 financial crisis and economic instability at home, he sought distraction in video games. In 2014, at the age of nineteen, he started commentating League of Legends esports matches. In August 2015, he became a commentator for the Spanish regional league LVP. In 2016, he moved from Bilbao to Barcelona to be able to work as an announcer. After broadcasting for the LVP, specifically for the Orange Super League, in February 2019 he started to present a late night show for the Ubeat network called "Hoy no se sale", currently presented by Bruno Feliu and Cristinini. In February 2020, Llanos quit commentating League of Legends, and left LVP to become an exclusive content creator for the G2 Esports team, along with Ander Cortés, Reven and Ernesto "BarbeQ" Folch. In January 2021, Ibai made a significant career move, announcing his departure from G2 Esports to launch his own streaming brand. This new venture, which he formed with his previous collaborators and the addition of new talents, marked a new chapter in his career. Llanos co-founded the esports team KOI alongside Gerard Piqué in December 2021, which is headquartered in Barcelona. It initially competed in League of Legends, Valorant and Teamfight Tactics. In February 2021, Llanos launched an interview series called "Charlando tranquilamente" ("Calmly Chatting"). In his first program, he spoke with footballer Gerard Piqué. Following episodes featured footballers such as Andrés Iniesta, Ronaldinho, Paulo Dybala, Sergio Agüero and Sergio Ramos, and musical artists like Ed Sheeran, Bad Bunny, Nicky Jam, J Balvin, Rauw Alejandro, Jhayco, Duki, Aitana and Nicki Nicole. After finding amusement at a video clip showing two young people competing against each other in holding up a balloon from touching the ground, Llanos conceived the Balloon World Cup alongside Piqué, which took place on 14 October 2023. On 25 June 2022, Llanos set a new record for the most-watched Twitch stream ever with more than 3.3 million viewers tuning into the Velada del Año 2 event, surpassing the record of 2.4 million viewers previously held by TheGrefg during a Fortnite outfit reveal. In October 2022, Llanos' organization KOI announced a merger with Rogue, which would see all of Rogue's existing teams rebrand to KOI. The partnership was dissolved after just one year in November 2023, after Rogue owner Infinite Reality had reportedly experienced financial issues. Both organizations kept ownership of the same teams they had held before the merger, with KOI retaining its teams in the Valorant Champions Tour, FIFAe Club Series, and LVP SuperLiga. In January 2024, KOI was acquired by MAD Lions and Toronto Defiant owner OverActive Media in a combined merger that also included fellow Spanish organization Movistar Riders. The LEC team was renamed MAD Lions KOI, with all former KOI and Movistar Riders teams rebranding as Movistar KOI. Due to the merger, Llanos and Piqué will own up to about 21% of OverActive Media. Llanos also agreed on an unspecified "service agreement" with the company. On 13 July 2024, during La Velada del Año IV, Llanos set a Guinness World Record for the most concurrent viewers for a Twitch stream, with 3,846,256 simultaneous viewers. On 19 December 2024, he recreated The Squid Game in Madrid, in collaboration with KFC and Netflix, after the release of the second season of the series. On 26 July 2025, he surpassed the Twitch viewership record for the 4th time with La Velada del Año V, bringing 9,189,762 viewers on his stream. This event made him gain over 1.7 million followers, making him the most followed streamer on Twitch at the time, surpassing Ninja, who spent several years at the number one spot; during this stream he also gained over 164,000 subscribers, which is the 8th most amount ever reached on Twitch. He ended up being quickly dethroned by KaiCenat 2 months later, during his 3rd subathon.
Llanos currently resides in Barcelona. He lives in a streaming house together with eight friends and various streamers. He is 70% blindness on his left eye due to a herpes. Llanos is friends with Argentine football player Sergio Agüero. Agüero invited him to Lionel Messi's much-publicised farewell dinner on 7 August 2021, and has since interviewed Messi at the player's presentation at Paris Saint-Germain and the 2023 Ballon d'Or ceremony.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
