Tag: esports

Snickers Goes After The eSports Audience By Sponsoring ELeague

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Snickers is going after the young, male Millennials that make up a large part of the eSports audience as the chocolate bar-maker signs on to sponsor ELeague, the professional eSports league co-owned by Turner Broadcasting and talent agency WME/IMG. As a sponsor, Snickers will run ad spots during the broadcast of season two of ELeague on TBS, sponsor a live pre-game show, and name a post-game bloopers segment after its campaign slogan “You’re Not You When You Are Hungry.” Earlier this year, ELeague struck a deal to live stream its content on Twitch to reach a wider audience online.

What Brands Should Do
Over the past few years, eSports has grown from a nerdy niche into a media platform that attracts a massive audience and generates billions of dollars. The first season of ELeague brought in a huge audience that no brand should ignore, and Snickers is smart to sponsor the series to reach its target audience. Previously, early-adopting brands such as Coca-Cola and Geico have been sponsoring eSports events to reach its young, male-skewing audience who typically shun traditional ads. Therefore, now is the time for brands to include video game streaming and eSports as part of the media strategy via relevant sponsorships.

 

Source: AdAge

Twitter To Live Broadcast Its First eSports Matches

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
In the beginning of July, reports surfaced that Twitter was in talks with Turner Broadcasting for the live-streaming rights of some of its eSports content. Now, Twitter announced that it has struck a partnership deal with Turner to live broadcast the semi-final and final games of ELEAGUE’s tournament for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive this weekend, marking the first time Twitter has branched out into the eSports territory that is typically dominated by Twitch.

What Brands Need To Do
ELEAGUE is a professional eSports league co-owned by Turner Broadcasting and talent agency WME/IMG that started this May. Its broadcast on Turner-owned TBS scored 509,000 total viewers during its first primetime telecast and has since consistently brought in a new audience to Turner network throughout its first season. Now by inking a deal with Twitter, Turner is looking to further extend the reach of its eSports content.  

In the past few years, the competitive gaming industry, which attracts a massive audience and generates billions of dollars, has quickly grown into a media opportunity that brands should not ignore. Some early-adopting brands, such as Coca-Cola and Geico, have been sponsoring eSports events to reach its young, male-skewing audience. More brands should consider leveraging the massive reach of eSports events to reach consumers via sponsorships or, in this case, Twitter ads.

 

Source: Engadget

 

AMC Networks Launching An SVOD Service For International Gamers

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
AMC Networks has become the latest media company to jump on the eSports bandwagon, as its Iberian subsidiary announced the launch of its first SVOD channel focused on gaming and eSports content. With some help from video gaming network Machinima, AMC International Networks Iberia will be making this new on-demand service available for gaming enthusiasts in Spain and Portugal via pay TV, smart TVs, and mobile apps. Last week, the U.K.’s biggest pay-TV broadcaster Sky also announced it is set to launch a dedicated eSports channel.

Why Brands Should Care
The rapid growth of eSports in recent years has drawn attention from media companies as ESPN, Turner, and Yahoo all entered the field with dedicated online content portals. Turner, in particular, brought eSports programming to primetime on TBS to further broaden its reach. As they race to capture the vast eSports audience, brands, especially those seeking global recognition, should consider leveraging the massive reach of eSports events to get in front of international audiences via sponsorships and ads.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Sky To Launch A Dedicated eSports TV Channel In UK

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
UK’s largest pay-TV broadcaster Sky is teaming up with ITV, another major UK broadcaster, and cable company Virgin Media to launch a new eSports TV channel dedicated to competitive gaming content 24/7. As part of the deal, ITV and Sky have acquired minority stakes in Ginx eSports TV, previously known as Ginx TV, a channel that was only available via Virgin Media’s cable packages and covered a broader range of gaming culture. The channel will launch on Sky as a 24-hour channel in the UK and Ireland on June 23, showcasing major eSports tournaments around the world in addition to its independent programming.

What Brands Need To Do
There is no denying that eSports has become a force to be reckoned with in today’s media landscape. Earlier this week, Twitch’s E3 livestreams scored 925K concurrent viewers, a number that any basic cable channel would love to hit. The rapid growth in eSports has drawn considerable attention from traditional media companies, with ESPN, Turner, and Yahoo all establishing their own dedicated portals and racing to capture the huge audience that eSports commands. Some early-adopting brands, such as Coca-Cola and Geico, have been sponsoring eSports events to reach its young, male-skewing audience. Therefore, brands should consider leveraging the massive reach of eSports events to reach their target audience via sponsorships and ads.

 

Source: Engadget

 

Microsoft Launches eSports League For Popular Racing Game

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Microsoft is set to launch an eSports league for its popular racing game Forza Motorsport. Simply named Forza Racing Championship, the new official tournament will be run by Microsoft with no third-party collaborations but invites anyone to compete for real prizes. Although details are scarce at the moment, the matches are scheduled to kick off with Forza Motorsport 6 this summer.

What Brands Need To Do
Today, the top video game titles each captures tens of millions of hours of consumer attention monthly on Twitch, making eSports an important media segment that brands should not miss. Created by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft, the Forza series is among the most popular Xbox games, with Forza Motorsport 6 selling over 1 million copies within the first four months of its launch. Given its popularity and Microsoft’s marketing push, this new Championship league should be a hit among game lovers, and presents brands, especially auto brands, a valuable sponsorship opportunity to reach the young, male-skewing audience that eSports typically attracts.

 

Sources: Engadget

Facebook Challenges Twitch With Blizzard Integration

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Following the launch of an eSports network and programming on Facebook last month, popular video game maker Blizzard is forging a bond with the social network by integrating Facebook’s login and Live video features into its PC games and online gameplay service Battle.net. This integration allows players to easily start broadcasting their gameplay on Facebook. Although Battle.net added support for Twitch last September, this will no doubt put some pressure on Twitch as Facebook gears up to compete for the game streaming market.

What Brands Need To Do
Given Facebook’s massive user base, its newfound interest in gameplay streaming should come as an auspicious sign for the gaming industry. Quickly growing from a nerdy niche to a legitimate new media segment that commands millions of eyeballs, the gaming industry has enjoyed rapid growth in the past few years. Meanwhile, Facebook has been making a strong push for its Live video product in the recent months, so it makes sense for the social network to tap into one of the most popular content segments in live streaming. For brands seeking to connect with a young, male-skewing audience that video games typically deliver, this provides a new channel to reach a wide audience. Therefore, now is the time for brands to include video game streaming and eSports as part of the media strategy via relevant sponsorships.

 

Source: VentureBeat

Snapchat Reportedly Surpassed Twitter In Daily Users, Inks Deal With Wimbledon

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
There is no denying that Snapchat is one of the fastest growing and most in-demand social networks at the moment. A recent report from Statista revealed that Snapchat had accumulated 110 million daily active users as of last December. Today, a new report from Bloomberg claims that the hot messaging app now has 150 million people using it daily, possibly surpassing Twitter’s 140 million daily active users.

In related news, Snapchat has scored a three-year deal with Wimbledon to promote content from the prestigious, London-based tennis tournament. One global Live Story will be created for opening day and closing day, whereas the day-to-day coverage will be geofenced for U.K. users only. Major Wimbledon sponsors such as Stella Artois, Evian, and Jaguar are reportedly in talks to appear as part of the Live Stories.

What Brands Need To Do
With consumers increasingly shifting from traditional media to digital and social channels, brand marketers need to be mindful of the rising social platforms and move in quickly. Snapchat has been steadily building out its ad products in a bid to win over more ad dollars. The Wimbledon partnership serves to grow Snapchat’s audience with live sports events, an area Twitter also recently got a major boost in thanks to its partnership with the NFL. For brands, it is time to consider getting on Snapchat to reach its 150 million young-skewing users via ads in Live Stories, event sponsorships, custom selfie filters, or branded Geofilters.

 

Sources: Bloomberg & Digiday

Turner’s ELEAGUE Captures Huge Audience During Opening Week

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
ELEAGUE, the professional eSports league co-owned by Turner Broadcasting and talent agency WME/IMG, enjoyed a successful opening week. The new eSports league’s tournament, which started on May 24, has generated 150 million gross minutes of video consumption and garnered over 710 million impressions on Twitter so far. We wrote about ELEAGUE’s live-streaming deal with Twitch last week, and ELEAGUE has consistently ranked as the top channel on Twitch since launch, with an additional 3.6 million video views from its Facebook Page. The league’s broadcast on Turner-owned TBS channel averaged 509,000 total viewers during its first primetime telecast, a respectable number for a basic cable channel on a Friday night.

What Brands Need To Do
The impressive audience that ELEAGUE delivered during its opening week shows the vast potential of the competitive gaming industry, which has quickly grown into a media opportunity that attracts a massive audience and generates billions of dollars in recent years. Some early-adopting brands, such as Coca-Cola and Geico, have been sponsoring eSports events to reach its young, male-skewing audience. Therefore, brands should consider leveraging the massive reach of eSports events to reach consumers via sponsorships and ads.

 

Source: ELEAGUE


Header image is a promotional image courtesy of e-league.com

Why Bud Light’s Big Entry Into eSports Is A Dud

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Bud Light decided to venture into eSports with an “All-Stars” program with the hope of connecting with young, male-skewing eSports fans. At the DreamHack Austin event, which ran from May 6 to 8, Bud Light announced a list of what it considers the top competitors in several of the most popular video games. The beer brand invites fans to vote for their favorite gamer and the five competitors with the most votes will be crowned Bud Light All-Stars on June 14th during an E3 event, which will be broadcast live on Bud Light’s Twitch channel.

While this may look like a solid plan, Bud Light took a few missteps in its execution and ended up with a lackluster response from eSports fans. Reports from eSports outlets point out that the “All Stars” candidates that Bud Light announced were not really “top-tier” players at all, but instead a list filled with players with mediocre rankings and even several retired ones. Besides the misguided selection of players, Bud Light’s eSports All-Stars initiative does not feature competitive gaming elements, which is also a large part of why it failed to garner enthusiasm from the eSports community so far.

What Brands Need To Do
eSports is one of the fast-growing media segments that brands are eager to get into, and Bud Light is certainly commendable for attempting to connect with the eSports audience. Unfortunately, their implementation missed the mark because, essentially, they did not deliver on their promise of “All Stars.” For brands aiming to enter an emerging segment like eSports, it is important to take the time to learn about the dynamic field so as to devise a plan that incorporates the essence of competitive gaming and matches both the campaign budget and audience expectations.

 

Source: The Daily Dot & eSports Observer

Turner’s ELeague Reaches Streaming Deal With Twitch

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
ELeague, the upcoming professional eSports league co-owned by Turner Broadcasting and talent agency WME/IMG, announced a multi-year agreement with gameplay streaming giant Twitch on Friday. Under the deal, over a dozen weekly games of ELeague competition, which starts on May 24, will be live streamed on Twitch. During ELeague’s weekly airing on Turner-owned TBS channel on Friday nights, fans will also be able to stream the games on Twitch.

What Brands Need To Do
Over the past few years, eSports has grown from a nerdy niche into a media platform that attracts a massive audience and generates billions of dollars. This deal between ELeague and Twitch is illustrative of the fast growth and vast potential of the competitive gaming industry, and it also significantly expands the reach of ELeague games, offering brands a great channel to reach its highly coveted young male audience via sponsorships and ads.

 

Source: Variety