Ibai Llanos

Ibai Llanos Garatea (, 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.

On the livestreaming platform Twitch, Ibai operates the secound most-followed channel according to analytics company Social Blade. On YouTube, he has more than 11 million subscribers on his main channel and a total of over three billion views. In 2021, Forbes Spain named him the most influential social media influencer in Spain.

Biography
Ibai was born in the Deusto district of Bilbao, Spain on 26 March 1995. Due to the 2008 financial crisis and economic instability at home, he sought distraction in videogames.

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 Cristina López, also known as Kapo 013 and Cristinini respectively.

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, he announced his departure from G2 and formed his own streaming brand along with previous collaborators, Cortés, Reven and BarbeQ, with the addition of Cristinini, Knekro, Werlyb and Illojuan.

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 organisations 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 organisation Movistar Riders. The LEC team renamed to MAD Lions KOI, with all former KOI and Movistar Riders teams rebranding as Movistar KOI. Llanos and Pique will own up to about 21% of OverActive Media as a result of the merger. Llanos also agreed on an unspecified "service agreement" with the company.

Personal life
Llanos currently resides in Barcelona. He lives in a streaming house together with eight friends and various streamers.

Llanos is friends with Argentine football player Sergio Agüero. He was invited by Agüero 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.