Lionel Messi is already giving Apple’s MLS streaming service a boost

Lionel Messi has taken MLS by storm, and that’s good news for Apple. The league partnered with Apple for a streaming service called MLS Season Pass, which kicked off this season and will continue for the next decade. And though Messi only played his first match for his new club, Inter Miami, on July 21st, it seems that viewership has already improved.

While Apple did not release specific numbers, in a statement, Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr explained that the week of July 19th–26th had “the 3 most-watched matches ever on MLS Season Pass, with viewers in almost 100 countries and regions around the world. And the fans for those matches were roughly split between the MLS Season Pass English and Spanish language broadcasts.”

Considering Messi has only played in two matches so far, his presence might be having a knock-on effect for the rest of the league, at least early on. It helps when he does things like this:

Of course, it’s still very early, and without actual numbers, it’s hard to know how much of an impact Messi has really had on subscribers. (Sports Business Journal previously reported that MLS Season Pass had close to 1 million subscribers pre-Messi.) But his presence has generated new interest in the league, which will likely mean more people tuning in to watch. And Apple clearly knows what a big deal it is: the company has been heavily promoting his presence, issuing a press release and even featuring Messi’s face at the top of the App Store.