Most popular esports teams owned by content creators and streamers
In recent years, a trend has emerged within the esports industry: content creators stepping into the realm of team ownership. Fuelled by their passion for gaming, content creators are now venturing beyond streaming and video creation to establish esports organizations and make use of their established audiences. These organisations often front teams competing at the highest level of their disciplines, and draw much more viewership than teams without these content creator ties.
Among the most popular content creator-backed esports teams are titans like 100 Thieves, FaZe Clan, and newcomers like Karmine Corp and Gentle Mates. These organisations are the new wave of the esports industry; players can become some of the most popular competitors within their regions thanks to the backing of these content creators, and if the team is competitive it can lead to comprehensive brand exposure for the involved creators.
The relationship between the content creators and their teams is a win-win scenario for all involved. The teams enjoy the support of a loyal fanbase, and the creators push their brand to the next level and expose it to a whole new demographic of esports fans. In this article, we will take a look at some of the esports industry’s most popular organisations which are involved with content creators.
The most popular esports teams owned by content creators
| Organization
|
Content Creator(s) Involved
|
Peak Viewership (Game)
|
|---|---|---|
 |
Nadeshot
|
1 710 735 (League of Legends)
|
 |
PlayHard
|
1 505 804 (Valorant)
|
 |
Kamet0 / Kotei
|
882 611 (Valorant)
|
 |
Ibai
|
830 816 (League of Legends)
|
 |
TheGrefg / Gorgoo
|
737 296 (Valorant)
|
 |
Squeezie / Gotaga / Brawks
|
722 081 (Fortnite)
|
 |
MoistCr1TiKaL / Ludwig
|
596 014 (Apex Legends)
|
 |
Nobru / Cerol
|
593 548 (Counter-Strike)
|
 |
Disguised Toast
|
278 856 (Apex Legends)
|
 |
ZeratoR
|
150 522 (Valorant)
|
100 Thieves, Nadeshot — 1 710 735 PV
100 Thieves is an esports and gaming organisation founded by Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag in 2017. The organisation has been a forerunner in the industry, subsidising their esports competition with the company’s lifestyle brand profits, and receiving tens of millions of dollars in investments. The organisation currently competes in some of North America’s most popular esports: League of Legends, Valorant, and Call of Duty.
Nadeshot made his debut as a professional Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare player at the age of 16, and went on to win multiple prestigious events, and even the Best Esports Player award at The Game Awards 2014. After building a fanbase through his professional esports career, Nadeshot pivoted to content creation and currently has over 3.19M Subscribers on YouTube and 2M Followers on Twitch.
100 Thieves reached a peak viewership of 1.71M concurrent viewers at the Worlds 2021 League of Legends tournament. At the time, 100T was North America’s strongest contender for the international stage. The team was eliminated from Group B after a 3-3 record, but they still managed to garner high viewership from their games. 100 Thieves have revolutionised how esports organisations turn a profit and their approaches to building a brand. None of this would have been possible without Nadeshot’s support and his previous fan base, which was critical for the organisation to build viewership early on.
LOUD, PlayHard — 1 505 804 PV
LOUD is not only one of Brazil’s most popular esports organisations but one of the world’s. LOUD was created in 2019 by YouTuber Bruno “PlayHard” Oliveira and others. LOUD has always understood the power of content creation and building a brand and fan base. The organisation’s YouTube channel has over 12.5M Subscribers and it was the first ever Brazilian esports organisation to reach 1 billion views on the platform.
LOUD has tapped into many of Brazil’s largest esports markets. The brand established itself within the mobile gaming esports scene by starting a Free Fire team, and it has also found success in more traditional esports like League of Legends, and the quickly growing game of Valorant.
Of all of LOUD’s ventures into esports, their Valorant roster has been the most popular by far. Led by Argentinan IGL Saadhak, the team has found great success competitively both regionally within the Americas, and on the global stage at international events. LOUD won their first world championship title within Valorant at the Valorant Champions 2022 tournament. It was here the team reached their peak viewership of 1.5M concurrent viewers, and slightly less than one-third of these viewers came directly from Portuguese-language broadcasts.
Karmine Corp, Kamet0 — 882 611 PV
Karmine Corp, originally known as Kameto Corp, was founded in 2020 as a pandemic project by French Twitch streamers Kamel “Kamet0” Kebir and Zouhair “Kotei” Darji. Kamet is the more popular of the two, and the namesake of the team. The team saw rapper Amine “Prime” Mekri join in late 2020, fully embracing the combination of pop culture, content creation, and esports.
Although only established four years ago, the organisation has a humungous French following and has quickly advanced to top-level competitions across various esports disciplines, such as League of Legends and Valorant. Karmine Corp’s time in Valorant has been their most successful, as they reached 882K PV at the recent VCT 2024 Masters Madrid event.
Karmine Corp is the driving force behind European Valorant viewership, and they have already been established as the region’s most popular team. Karmine Corp’s story is not yet finished, and the organisation still has plenty of room to grow.
KOI Esports, Ibai — 830 816 PV
KOI Esports is an esports organisation founded by Ibai “ibai” Llanos, arguably Spain’s most popular content creator and Twitch streamer, in collaboration with former footballer Gerard Piqué. Since entering the industry, the organisation has undergone mergers with other notable organisations such as Rogue and MAD Lions.
The organisation's most successful merger has been with MAD Lions. The two combined to form MAD Lions KOI, a team competing at the top level of League of Legends’ EMEA circuit. The team entered the scene in early 2024, and only weeks ago it reached a new viewership record for the KOI organisation. At the LEC Winter 2024, they advanced to the grand finals and their match against G2 Esports saw 830K concurrent viewers tune in, the tournament’s most popular game.
KOI has been directly supported by Ibai’s broadcasts of their games, and the mergers have been successful in giving the team a competitive edge. At the forefront of League of Legends in Europe, KOI will continue to dominate viewership and bring Spanish fans together under the MAD Lions KOI banner.
Team Heretics, Goorgo — 737 296 PV
Team Heretics is leading the Spanish esports scene right alongside KOI. The team was founded by content creator Jorge “Goorgo” Orejudo, who is quickly approaching 2M subscribers on YouTube, in 2016. Headquartered in Madrid, the team competes in a variety of disciplines: Counter-Strike, Valorant, and Fortnite.
Although founded by Goorgo, the organisation’s popularity was boosted to the next level when David “TheGrefg" Cánovas Martínez, who has 11.89M Followers on Twitch, joined the company. TheGrefg is one of the largest Spanish-speaking content creators in the world, and his presence within the organisation has helped to bring them more fans than many other organisations could ever dream of.
Similar to Karmine Corp, Team Heretics have entered 2024 and quickly cemented themselves as not only one of Europe’s most popular teams but one of the region’s most competitive rosters. At the recent Masters Madrid LAN event, the team reached 737K PV in their match against Sentinels, one of the Americas’ most popular teams. Team Heretics is bringing a new generation of Spanish fans to Valorant, and they will likely be one of Valorant’s most popular teams this year.
Gentle Mates, Gotaga — 722 081 PV
Gentle Mates is a collaborative esports organisation founded by three individual French content creators: Lucas “Squeezie” Hauchard, Corentin “Gotaga” Houssein, and Kevin "Brawks" Georges. The three put together a Valorant team under the banner SBG, an acronym of their three aliases. After some early success, the trio officially launched Gentle Mates.
The organisation’s Valorant roster recently joined the top-level Valorant Champions Tour season for 2024 after winning the VALORANT Challengers Ascension 2023: EMEA, although they have struggled in the early matches this year. Despite their successful fast journey to the top level of the discipline, their most popular match ever came from the FNCS 2023 Global Championship, Fortnite’s yearly esports world championship event series.
Their roster finished the event in 27th place, but still enjoyed exposure to the event’s viewership, receiving 722K Peak Viewers. Their Rocket League team also has achieved success, reaching 413K PV for their derby match against Karmine Corp at the RLCS 2024 - Major 1: EU Open Qualifier 1.
Moist Esports, MoistCr1TiKaL / Ludwig — 596 014 PV
Moist Esports is another pandemic passion project, this time created by Charles “penguinz0” White Jr., also known as MoistCr1TiKaL, and with Ludwig “Ludwig” Ahgren as a co-owner. Combined, these two have over 20M YouTube Subscribers, and they bring this fan base to their team’s esports matches by casting the game live.
The organisation’s Apex Legends team reached 596K PV competing at the ALGS: 2023 Championship, and their Rocket League roster won the RLCS 2021-22 Spring Split Major, claiming 255.1K Peak Viewers. In 2023, the organisation also fronted a Valorant team called Moist Moguls, an even partnership collaboration between Ludwig and Charles. The team was one of Valorant’s most popular American second-tier teams and will continue to compete in 2024 under a different name.
Moist Moguls just missed out on qualifying for the top-level VCT events last year, and for 2024 they merged with Shopify Rebellion to form Moist x Shopify Rebellion. The team will likely be one of Valorant’s most popular Challenger teams for 2024, especially if Ludwig continues to stream their games with tarik, Valorant’s leading community caster and creator.
Fluxo, Nobru / Cerol — 593 548 PV
Fluxo is a Brazilian esports organisation founded by content creators Bruno "Nobru" Goes and Lúcio "Cerol" Lima. The organisation is one of Brazil's most popular, with 3.8M followers on Instagram. Although initially focused on Free Fire, which is especially popular in Brazil, it has since expanded to League of Legends and Counter-Strike, which has become their most popular discipline.
Nobru, who has 3.7M Followers on Twitch and 15M Subscribers on YouTube, was previously a professional Free Fire esports player. He became a world champion at the Free Fire World Series 2019, at which he also earned the event's MVP award for his performance. Two years later, he created Fluxo and competed under the organisation before moving on to full-time content creation.
Nobru leveraged his esports career to pivot into content creation, and then used his exploding popularity as a streamer and YouTuber to launch the esports organisation. Their Counter-Strike roster reached 593K PV at the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023, despite a disappointing last-place finish at the event.
Disguised, Disguised Toast — 278 856 PV
Jeremy “DisguisedToast” Wang is one of Canada’s most popular content creators and streamers with 2.84M Followers on Twitch. Originally a Hearthstone YouTuber, he transitioned into Twitch and is a member of OfflineTV, one of the most popular groups of creators in the world, featuring LilyPichu, Michael Reeves, and previously Pokimane.
DisguisedToast created the eponymous Disguised organisation in 2023, putting his own money forward for the organisation’s teams and uploading videos transparently discussing the costs involved with employing a team of esports professionals. The organisation competed in Valorant, League of Legends, Apex Legends, and most recently Teamfight Tactics.
The organisation reached its peak of 278K PV with its Apex Legends roster at last year’s ALGS: 2023 Championship. The team employed streamer iiTzTimmy as one of its starting players, bringing even more clout and attention to the organisation. The Disguised Valorant team was also highly popular, becoming the most popular team by watch time and average viewership at the VALORANT Challengers 2023: North America Split 2 event. The team earned 137K PV during the event, becoming one of the most popular tier-2 Valorant teams ever.
Mandatory, ZeratoR — 150 522 PV
Mandatory is an esports organisation launched by another French content creator, ZeratoR. The streamer is one of France's most popular streamers, and his Z-event annual charity events have garnered millions of concurrent viewers since its debut in 2016. His personal Twitch channel has 1.54M Followers and the 2022 edition of the Z Event reached 573K PV.
Mandatory's most popular roster competes in the tier-2 French scene. During the 2023 season, they largely played second fiddle to Gentle Mates, whose viewership they could not match. However, they still were substantially more popular than all other competing teams. At the VALORANT Challengers 2023 France: Revolution Split 2 the team reached 150K PV for their grand final match against Gentle Mates, which they ultimately lost.
With Gentle Mates now competing in the top-level VCT events, Mandatory hoped to become the most popular French tier-2 Valorant team. However, the ongoing VALORANT Challengers 2024 France: Revolution Split 1 has some fierce competition for Mandatory. They will need ZeratoR’s full support to establish themselves as the most popular team within France’s regional scene.
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