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Good morning! It’s Thursday and this is your early morning Esports brief.
Twitch is reportedly rethinking its approach to monetizing content creation, with Bloomberg reporting Wednesday that the platform is mulling changes to how it pays top talent. The article states that the potential updates under consideration would “offer incentives for streamers to run more ads and reduce the proportion of subscription fees doled out to the site’s biggest performers.” Some changes to the monetization structure could be implemented as soon as this summer, according to the report, including scaling back the revenue cut of channel subscriptions granted to certain streamers in its partnerships program from 70% to 50%, or to create multiple tiers and set criteria for how to qualify for each one. However, Twitch may offer to release partners from exclusivity restrictions, allowing them to stream on YouTube or Facebook. However, proposed updates aren’t finalized and could be abandoned.
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 COMPETITION
OpTic Gaming’s ultimate victory in the VALORANT Champions Tour Masters 1 grand final in Iceland proved potent as a draw on Sunday, as over a million viewers tuned in at its peak for the championship match. Overall, the event averaged 416,236 throughout the tournament, with over 33 million hours watched.
Newly reelected French President Emmanuel Macron spoke about his desire to bring esports to the 2024 Olympic Games, stating in an interview that “we have a historic opportunity: the 2024 Olympic Games. It is up to us to take full advantage to establish a link between the two worlds’ Olympiads by hosting the world’s greatest esports events: CS:GO Majors, Worlds of League of Legends and The International of Dota 2.” He noted that “Video games are an important component of French cultural soft cultural power and of our country’s image around the world.”
Toronto Ultra has been tapped to host Canada’s first-ever Call of Duty League Major tournament, running June 2-5 with players competing for $500,000 in prize money. The Toronto Ultra Major III Tournament will take place at the Mattamy Athletic Centre with all 12 league teams set to participate. “Hosting Major III is a pinnacle moment for (franchise owner) OverActive and the Toronto Ultra brand. Live esports is a spectator sport that offers a unique and entertaining in-person experience; we’ve been eagerly awaiting our chance to bring new and our existing loyal fans a largescale event of this magnitude since our launch in 2018,” said Alyson Walker, chief commercial officer of OverActive Media, according to local reports.
Blizzard Entertainment laid out plans for the upcoming Hearthstone Master Tour: Voyage To The Sunken City with players competing for a $250k prize pool starting today. More than 400 players from over 40 countries will compete for the prize pool in addition to points toward the Masters Summer Championship, June 3-5 and an invite to Grandmasters: Last Call in the Summer.
Last edition before next week’s Esports Brand Activation! On May 4th, we’ll be bringing together the biggest players in these industries to present the most effective range of revenue-producing opportunities. If you are a brand looking to sponsor or a media buyer, thus event is FREE! If you are not a brand or agency but would still like to attend, you can purchase your ticket. Either way register here.
Esports tournament organizer BLAST Premier announced that it has started the host city selection process for the 2023 season, following last week’s announcement on the Spring Final returning to Lisbon’s Altice Arena in June. Running from April-August 2022, BLAST “will begin working with interested parties to find suitable host city locations and partners to deliver a number of event opportunities across their global tournament circuit in 2023.” As part of the process, BLAST will host engaging workshops on the benefits of hosting an esports event, create opportunities for behind-the-scenes experiences at BLAST Premier live events (including the Spring Final in Lisbon) and offer opportunities to meet the BLAST team in-person.
The Overwatch League revealed that the start of the 2022 season in the East is being delayed by two weeks due to a rise in COVID cases. The Eastern region’s games will now begin on May 20, but all 21 matches will still be played across two weekends instead of one. The schedule remains unchanged outside of the first few weeks, however, so there should be little disruption as of now. In the West, the league revealed that the Kickoff Clash will be held in Dallas and the Summer Showdown will take place in Toronto. This marks the first time a live OWL event will take place in Canada.
The Global Esports Federation appointed IMG as its Strategic Partner. IMG will collaborate with the GEF and its Strategic Partner for Esports Services, FACEIT, to produce the inaugural Commonwealth Esports Championships in Birmingham this August. IMG will also support and provide commercial consultancy for the second edition of the GEF’s Flagship event – the Istanbul 2022 Global Esports Games in December.
Unleashed Brands picked up youth esports organization XP League and will now serve as the parent company of the league. XP League currently hosts tournaments in Fortnite, Rocket League, and VALORANT.
Air Force Gaming rolled out plans for the Armed Forces Sports Championship featuring Halo: Infinite as part of FORCECON, a massive military gaming and tech event celebrating the intersection of gaming, technology, innovation, education and the United States Armed Forces. FORCECON will take place over Memorial Day weekend at the new Tech Port Center + Arena, and ASM Global managed facility located in San Antonio, features three live esports competitions with the Armed Forces Sports Championship on May 28.
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STREAMHATCHET
Stream Hatchet has released our Q1 2022 Report. We look into the past and current state of the live video game streaming market and its relevance to the popularity of streaming platforms, game publisher IP, creators and esports.
Esports has continued to rise in popularity each year as gaming continues to break into pop culture. Compared to broader market trends, global esports audiences have been less impacted by the end of the global lockdowns: total esports hours watched decreased by just 0.3% this quarter compared to Q1 2021.
Historically, esports viewership has increased significantly from pre-pandemic levels. From Q1 2019 to Q1 2022, total esports hours watched has grown over 63%. Additionally, Twitch is the definitive place to watch esports content. Twitch accounts for 80% of the total Q1 2022 esports hours watched. It’s worth noting that eastern platforms Afreeca and NaverTV have captured significant market share relative to other leading streaming platforms, with 3% and 2% of the esports market share, respectively.
To read more and download the report, visit Stream Hatchet’s blog.
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 SPONSORSHIP & ACTIVATION
ESL Gaming and Nielsen announced the expansion of their business relationship for an additional three years. The agreement enables ESL Gaming to regularly report monetary valuations to brand partners and advertisers based on Nielsen’s Quality Index Media methodology. The scope of the partnership has been expanded to track more events per year and more broadcasts per platform and channel. Covering 17 events, including the ESL Pro Tour in CS:GO and ESL Gaming’s Dota 2 properties, as well as ESL Gaming’s complete mobile esports ecosystem, the collaboration focuses on four main areas: Media & Sponsor Valuation; Community & Fan Analytics; Utilizing standardized metrics; and Mobile gaming & esports.
Speaking of which, ESL Gaming and Gameloft for brands are launching an esports competition for Snapdragon Elite Gaming & Pagani Automobili in Asphalt 9: Legends, the latest game in the arcade racing franchise. iOS & Android players are now able to race their way through the Snapdragon® Pro Series esports competition for a chance to compete in the Finals. The best players from North America, Europe, the Middle East & North Africa will battle it out during the regional grand finals that begin in late May.
Beasley Esports announced new activations for the Battle for Texas on May 6 between the Houston Outlaws and Dallas Fuel. Beasley Esports partnered with Arrive Logistics, which will be sponsoring a week-long social media contest in addition to serving up a Battle After Dark afterparty, sponsored by Karviva wellness drinks, who will also host its brand ambassador, Bellator Champion and avid Overwatch fan Raufeon Stots. Additionally, Upper Deck will be in attendance to showcase their Overwatch League Game Dated Moments trading cards, highlighting key plays throughout the season.
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THAT BIG TV CONFERENCE
September 29-30, NYC
Are you a senior exec at a network, agency, brand, tech or research company? Then you CAN’T MISS this conference. Find innovative, effective ways to build authentic audience connections, measure success and stay relevant in the content multiverse.
FIND OUT MORE
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 YOUGOV SNAPSHOT
With Evil Geniuses’ record victory over 100 Thieves in the LCS Spring Finals this weekend, the team’s fans had plenty to celebrate…especially if they placed a bet on the outcome! Data from YouGov Profiles shows that, despite 100T fans being more natural risk-takers, EG fans are more likely to engage with gambling – though the majority of both fans believe online gambling should be legal. – FANAI
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 PLATFORMS
Fandom and eFuse are teaming up for a multi-faceted partnership to boost collegiate esports opportunities for esports athletes, teams and fans. The combo will leverage Fandom’s 108 million gaming fans across 17 million pages of content within over 100,000 gaming communities with eFuse’s tournament production and eRena software infrastructure in a move to build on the existing collegiate esports framework and provide resources for Gen Z students and gamers through sponsorships and increased awareness of the leagues. The first-of-its-kind collaboration grants Fandom the exclusive advertising sales rights for eFuse’s Collegiate Events: Collegiate CoD League (CCL), College Carball Association (CCA), and upcoming activations for Collegiate Fortnite, with plans for additional titles in the future.
For the first time in the game’s history, Overwatch topped the 1 million viewer mark on Twitch, bolstered by drops allowing viewers access to the first Overwatch 2 beta period.
Esports-focused betting operator Rivalry reports that its revenue grew by 640.0% to $11.1m for 2021 with betting handle swelling to $78.2m, up 202.0% year-on-year. While losses also grew, Rivalry co-founder and CEO Steven Salz stated that “We had a tremendous year by nearly all measures in 2021. Our team delivered triple-digit growth, secured the financial resources to accelerate our momentum, continued to strengthen our originally developed product, added significant talent depth to our bench, and further solidified Rivalry as the most engaged brand in esports betting globally.”
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 TEAMS
Team Liquid launched The Next Wave, described as a scouting combine that seeks to finding prolific FPS players throughout North America. The initiative will feature a five episode series of the hunt, with the finale broadcast live on Twitch, focusing on amateur and professional FPS players and content creators. In turn, the winner of the competition will be handed a cash prize, a contract with Team Liquid, and a partner prize package. Coinbase signed on as a presenting partner with Aim Lab, HyperX, IMC Trading, Kingston, MIKE AND IKE and Secretlab also onboard as partners.
Cloud9 acquired the Russia-based Gambit Esports’ Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad that just qualified for the PGL Antwerp Major under a different name – Players. The deal was a negotiation between Cloud9 and Norwegian-based Ulti Agency, which now represents the players of Players. Although it’s one of North America’s most storied esports organizations, Cloud9 has not fielded a CS:GO team since March ’21, when it let go of its squad due to logistical problems surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Heroic landed MIBR’s spot as a BLAST Premier team member following a “highly competitive bidding process,” MIBR, owned by Immortals Gaming Club, had been with BLAST Premier since its inception in February 2020 but recently opted to sell their slot.“We’re delighted to welcome on board Heroic, they’ve proven through their performances on the server over the last few years, that they belong alongside the world’s elite of Counter-Strike,” BLAST Premier managing director Charlotte Kenny said.
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 INDUSTRY
TwitchCon Amsterdam mapped out plans as tickets went on sale for the July 16-17 event in Amsterdam. In addition to a bevy of content creators who wil be in attendance, the event will also offer Rivals tournaments, meet and greets, panels, Artist Alley’s EU debut, as well as a musical performance and the event’s very first Drag Showcase.
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CYNOPSIS SPORTS: CMO EXCHANGE 2022
Tuesday, May 24, 2022, 1:00pm ET
Registration is FREE for this fantastic event! Major sports execs from companies like MLS, WNBA, NASCAR, UFC, FanDuel and NBCUniversal are lined up to speak. You won’t want to miss it.
VIEW THE SPEAKER LINE-UP & REGISTER NOW
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Trivia
In which entertainment franchise – including movies, books and games – introduced the United Citizen Federation, where service guarantees citizenship? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city).
Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question
In the show The Office, what video game was used to promote teambuilding in the Stamford branch? Answer: Call of Duty. Kudos: Heather Allen-WWE Corporation/Stamford; David Westberg-SAG•AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA
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AD SALES PLANNER >>
OUTDOOR SPORTSMAN GROUP /DENVER, NYC OR CHICAGO: Outdoor Sportsman Group is currently seeking an Ad Sales Planner to work closely with Account Executives to create customized media schedules and presentations aligned with the goals and initiatives of ad sales clients. Work in a cross-functional team to plan, implement, and report on account performance aligned with client objectives. Full info HERE (5/12)
PRODUCER, GAMES & WEBSITES >>
FRED ROGERS PRODUCTIONS /PITTSBURGH: Develop ideas for games that are on-brand and deliver on the series mission. Manage schedules and workflows to keep projects on time and on budget. Oversee the Digital Production Assistant in generating and analyzing Google Analytics reports and other metrics. 4+ years production experience making games, websites, apps or other digital content. Full info HERE (5/10)
MEDIA AD SALES EXECUTIVE
amNY Metro
BROOKLYN, REMOTE
Develop new business. While training will be involved, this person must have an interest in web, social media, and email marketing sales and some relevant experience. This person will focus on selling across all of our media property digital channels. The pay for this position is a base salary, plus commission/bonuses/spiffs. Full info HERE (5/7)
DIGITAL AD SALES ASSOCIATE
SCHNEPS MEDIA
BROOKLYN, REMOTE
Prospect, contact and close new advertisers for our digital and print publications. Working directly with clients to develop and nurture relationships to understand their advertising needs. Create proposals based on needs of clients to fulfill digital and print advertising needs. 1-2 years of sales experience preferred. Full info HERE (5/7)
EMAIL MARKETING MANAGER
SCHNEPS MEDIA
BROOKLYN, REMOTE
Responsible for planning and developing our overall email marketing strategy. Managing the strategy, ensuring the health of our email lists & focus on building a robust email marketing universe. Work w/Mailchimp in collaboration with the Web Development, Digital Ad Ops & Sales teams. Exp w/email marketing, lead nurturing, and/or web analytics req. Full info HERE (5/7)
MANAGER, RESEARCH ANALYTICS
PARAMOUNT
NYC
Responsible for HQ research reporting outputs and analytics across Paramount International linear and non-linear platforms and provide partners with regular analytics, data-led insights, and business expertise. Manage and support all levels of the data flow from source through to report production. Min of 3 yrs. exp in providing research analytics. Full info HERE (5/6)
PRODUCTION HR & STAFFING MANAGER >>
TOP NY PRODUCTION COMPANY/NYC: Being the employee contact for HR, creating a recruitment plan, and maintaining production health care benefits as well as other tasks. Act as a consultant to managers and staff regarding policies and procedures. A bachelor’s degree and 4+ yrs experience in human resources at a senior-level in the entertainment production industry are required. Full info HERE (3/3)
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT
COX MEDIA
PHOENIX, AZ
Identifies and calls on new prospects using multiple sources of sales leads to interest them in benefits of advertising with Cox Media. Meets with prospective to assess their advertising needs. Builds an effective consultative relationship with clients, advertisers, and the agencies that represent them. 2 yrs of exp. in Media Sales environment. Full info HERE (5/2)
DIGITAL MARKETING ANALYST
COX MEDIA
BATON ROUGE, LA
Provide weekly pacing reports & updates to the digital team and sellers. Execute analysis of campaign strategy, assessment of creative results, & determine actionable results based on data. Deliver white glove service to top tier clients & oversee, monitor pacing reports & provide recaps on a weekly & monthly basis. 2 or more yrs of exp req. Full info HERE (5/2)
ADVERTISING SALES ASSOCIATE
COX MEDIA
BATON ROUGE, LA
Build/maintain great relationships with customers. Develop advertising campaigns to achieve our client’s marketing goals. create customized presentations and proposals and participate in sales pitches. Develop relationships by repping Cox at local business networking and charity events. 1+ year of experience in related field. Full info HERE (5/2)
MEDIA SALES COORDINATOR >>
IMPULSE MEDIA SALES/NY: Assist with activities between sales staff and station and agency clients by performing the following duties: Preparing avails, proposals, processing sales orders; corresponding with station traffic department contacts, negotiating make goods with agency buying teams. Full info HERE (5/2)
MEDIA SALES PLANNER >>
FUSE MEDIA/NY: Develop customized plans and presentations for Ad Sales clients. This is a great opportunity for someone looking to join a fast-growing business with future growth opportunities. Full info HERE (4/29)
SR. DIRECTOR, DIGITAL MEDIA >>
THE YES NETWORK/STAMFORD: This position is responsible for overseeing the content across all of YES Network’s digital platforms, including YESNetwork.com, social platforms, YouTube, and the YES App. Full info HERE (4/29)
SALES ASSISTANT – NATIONAL
UPtv
NYC
Provides full support and manages day-to-day maintenance of all accounts for the Ad Sales team by performing the following duties. Full info HERE (4/28)
SALES PLANNER
UPtv
NYC
Develops media proposals and works directly with Account Executives and Pricing & Planning. Full info HERE (4/28)
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER >>
LAUNDRY SERVICE – AMAZON PRIME VIDEO ACCOUNT/LA: Developing and posting content for Amazon Prime Video social, communicating with internal teams and clients. Craft original posts, create assets and capitalize on trending moments. Full info HERE (4/28)
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER >>
LAUNDRY SERVICE – AMAZON MUSIC ACCOUNT (REGIONAL MEXICANO)/LA OR REMOTE: Social Media Manager for one of our music and streaming clients, with a focus on Regional Mexicano communities. Must be fluent in both spoken and written Spanish. Develope and post content for social channels. Full info HERE (4/28)
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER >>
LAUNDRY SERVICE – AMAZON MUSIC (PODCASTS)/LA OR REMOTE: Craft original posts and engaging with podcast listeners, creating assets to capitalize on trending moments in culture, and ideating innovative approaches that’ll make your content shine. Full info HERE (4/28)
MARKETING DIRECTOR >>
ENTERTAINMENT & MEDIA SEARCH/CHARLOTTE: Responsible for website and digital content initiatives. The Director of Distribution Marketing is responsible for all affiliate/distribution marketing activity. Full info HERE (4/28)
TRAFFIC BILLING COORDINATOR
CIRCLE MEDIA
NASHVILLE
This position will serve as a conduit between Linear Sales, Traffic and the Accounting Department. Previous invoicing experience is a must, and the ability to work in a fast pace environment. Strong communication skills via phone and email are both required. Full info HERE (4/28)
PAID MEDIA MANAGER
PLAYON! SPORTS
ATLANTA
Day-to-day mgt, optimization, & scalability of existing, paid, customer-acquisition channels, as well as the discovery & implementation of new channels. Exp w/ Facebook advertising, SEM, programmatic display & direct media buys. Full info HERE (4/28)
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, PUBLIC RELATIONS >>
INTERACTIVE ONE/NYC AND TEMPORARILY REMOTE: This position strategizes and implements publicity plans that generate positive trade press and consumer coverage of the publisher and its assets. Full info HERE (4/28)
MANAGER, INTEGRATED MARKETING >>
iOne DIGITAL/NYC AND TEMPORARILY REMOTE: The primary focus will be to help craft sales strategies and creative solutions in response to RFPs, RFIs and general sales. Full info HERE (4/28)
VICE PRESIDENT, CROSS-PLATFORM CLIENT SERVICES >>
iOne DIGITAL/NYC AND TEMPORARILY REMOTE: This role will be charged with successfully managing and developing long-term cross-platform accounts with top-tier clients and agency partners. Full info HERE (4/28)
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OTHER JOBS OF INTEREST
Collaborate with Product Engineering – Includes product, design, clients, QA and backend team throughout planning, implementation, testing, deployment.
Backend Engineer
YouNow
Remote
https://www.younow.com/careers
Partner with engineers and content creators across the studio to identify and solve performance problems in Minecraft.
Principal Software Engineer, Minecraft
Mojang
Redmond WA
https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/mojang-careers
Partner and manage outsourced moderation team, creating KPI’s and establishing RoB.
Lead of Minecraft Moderation
Mojang
Redmond WA
https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/mojang-careers
Manages external character artists and teams.* Models and textures game ready character assets from provided concept art.
Lead 3D Character Artist
Telltale Games
Corte Madera CA
https://lcg-entertainment-inc.breezy.hr/
Partner with art, design, writing, programming and QA leads to establish, schedule, and track project work and milestones.
Senior Internal Producer
Telltale Games
West Covina CA
https://lcg-entertainment-inc.breezy.hr/
Provide technical leadership on high-impact projects.
Senior Staff Software Engineer, Machine Learning
Google Play
Mountain View CA
https://careers.google.com/?src=Online%2FHouse%20Ads%2FBKWS_LATAM
Work with external game developers to guide game’s visual progress from concept through to completion and live service.
Lead Artist
Disney Games
Glendale CA
https://jobs.disneycareers.com/search-jobs?k=lucasfilm%20games
Partner closely with internal cross-functional teams to leverage their expertise throughout all stages of product development and ensure success.
Marketing Manager
Disney Games
Glendale CA
https://jobs.disneycareers.com/search-jobs?k=lucasfilm%20games
Create the roadmap for the team. Oversee and deliver the projects through all stages of the lifecycle to completion.
Engineering Manager, DevOps
Roblox
San Mateo CA
https://jobs.roblox.com/careers
Be a technical bar-raiser for high code quality, architectural designs, and long-term approaches.
Principal/Senior Software Engineer – Content Suitability
Roblox
San Mateo CA
https://jobs.roblox.com/careers
Manage member lifecycle management, promotional campaigns, launches, and optimization of features and capabilities in market.
Product Market Manager, Business Innovation
Google Play
San Francisco CA
https://careers.google.com/?src=Online%2FHouse%20Ads%2FBKWS_LATAM
Mentor the careers of the engineers through coaching and finding opportunities that support their technical skillset and goals.
Engineering Manager – Creators
Discord
San Francisco CA
https://discord.com/jobs
Deliver experiments that create great user experiences while achieving business outcomes.
Senior Software Engineer – Revenue/Full Stack
Discord
San Francisco CA
https://discord.com/jobs
Scale and improve existing APIs and services used to power the Twitch video and clips platforms.
Software Engineer III – VOD
Twitch
San Francisco CA
https://www.twitch.tv/jobs/en/careers/
Work with product managers and other partners to plan, schedule, and create projects.
Engineering Manager – Community Insights
Twitch
San Francisco CA
https://www.twitch.tv/jobs/en/careers/
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