Livestreaming is the new hot thing in town. All major Internet companies around including the likes of Facebook, Twitch and Twitter are attempting to capitalize upon the same by ensuring that their platforms play host to as much live streamed content as possible. Facebook, which had earlier signed a deal with MLB to livestream games, has announced a brand new deal with global esports company ESL to bring over 5,550 hours of esports events to its platform.
This also includes around 1,500 hours of original programing. The deal brings Facebook on par with Twitch and Twitter, both of which already have plenty of esports partnerships. This is of course only to be expected from Twitch, which is a gaming platform, however, realizing the importance of esports, Twitter has also been bulking up on the same.
For instance, Twitter has deals with ESL and DreamHack. This brings content from ESL One, Intel Extreme Masters and DreamHack circuits. All these partnerships still leave Twitter as the undisputed leader in the field of esports viewership with the platform accounting for a total 71.3 percent of all esports viewership.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s deals will see new content roll out next month. Initially, we will have content from the Counter Strike:Global Offensive community, which will also be accompanied by 30-minute CS:GO weekly show featuring highlights of the global competition. All of this content will stream in a variety of languages including English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and German..
Speaking on the topic, ohannes Schiefer, Vice President of Social Media and Editorial at ESL, said:
With over 1.94 billion monthly active users on Facebook, this is a huge step toward expanding the reach of esports among mainstream audience.
He added:
Last year, ESL content generated over 2 billion impressions and reached over 200 million users on Facebook globally. Now, with the addition of live streaming for all major ESL events, as well as exclusive content around CS:GO and ESEA, we are excited to expand our reach to more audiences and build strong local communities of highly engaged esports fans.
While ESL will benefit from reaching a huge audience that potentially numbers in the billions. Facebook will be able to offer agreater selection of live content on its platform.
