Tag: eSports

Leading online bookmaker Betway and their esports team have reached a staggering 65 million views on the brand’s esports YouTube channel.

Clocking an impressive 215k subscribers and standing above the competition, the channel’s content ranges from CS:GO gamplay such as tutroials and in-game challenges to personality content including Him or Me and Voice Enable 0. The most viewed video pulling in 1,524,049 views, is from Betway’s CS:GO Pros Answer series titled “How Many Hours Do You Have In CS:GO?”.

With a host of well-known faces and personalities, the watch time of the YouTube channel has risen to over 3 million hours. Betway’s content delivers insight and understanding not offered or seen by other betting brands.

Adam Savinson, on behalf of Esports at Betway: “We are proud to reach this huge milestone but this is only the beginning. The brilliant work that the content team at Betway is doing is pushing us towards even bigger landmarks and we can’t wait to hit bigger milestones!”

One of the betting industry’s leading provider of fast sports & esports content, live streaming, live data and odds, BETER has brokered a deal with esports data company Bayes Esports. In addition to providing a significant impetus to the further growth of BETER’s esports department, this landmark deal will also allow BETER to supply odds with pin-point accuracy.

According to experts’ latest estimates, total esports viewership is projected to grow 9% annually over the next 2 years and reach 646 million views by 2023. In other words, the esports audience will be double in 2023 what it was in 2017. With this in mind, BETER constantly strives to further strengthen its dedicated esports department and improve the quality of services which it offers.

“We’re proud that we signed a partnership agreement with Bayes Esports. It will definitely help us achieve the goals set for 2021: to maximise the distribution of our content to new clients and markets, including in Asia, where betting also plays a big role. For more than three years, we at BETER continue to make BETERable content, as well as help our clients to harness new market opportunities and provide thrilling content for bettors,” said Alex Barkar, CEO at BETER.

As a part of the agreement, Bayes Esports will supply real-time data for popular esports tournaments to BETER, whereas BETER’s esports trading department will offer odds with even better accuracy and increase open odds uptime to 95%.

“We see this partnership as a great synergy of client-focused services and robust solutions. By combining our technology-driven products and machine learning algorithms with BETER’s trading team’s experience, we will make a real impact in the betting industry,” said Mark Balch, VP Esports Betting Services at Bayes.

EsportsBets, a Catena Media product and leading source for curated esports tournaments and betting-focused content, is pleased to announce that it has partnered with business intelligence firm Esports Charts (an ESM.one Inc. product). The partnership further strengthens the EsportsBets’ ability to inform and educate its audiences worldwide.

EsportsBets has already established itself as a go-to source for understanding and navigating the growing esports betting space. The esports data provided by Esports Charts will allow EsportsBets.com to further its commitment to offering the most up-to-date information to its vast readership base.

“I’m a great believer in data science and statistics,” said Gianfranco Capozzi, Head of Esports at Catena Media and Product Manager for EsportsBets. “Our users are some of the most inquisitive on the Internet and highly active when it comes to in-depth research — not just on Google, but also on community sites such as Reddit, specialized forums, and social media. This opportunity to cooperate with Esports Charts will give us the chance to back our editorial and publishing efforts, showing that our content is not just sentiment-driven, but also based on actual data.”

Talking more specifically about esports and the gambling markets, Capozzi added:

“Esports bettors are new-age bettors who will ultimately disrupt the market. We need innovation and technology developments able to meet the requirements of this new generation. Thanks to the real numbers and stats tracked by Esports Charts, I am confident that we can also prove to the most skeptical bookmakers, the huge potential of the burgeoning esports market.”

Sergii Rudenko, Head of Sales & Partnership for Esports Charts, added:

“We’re excited to work with EsportsBets and help them achieve their editorial and content goals. Esports Charts is positioned to help the industry in many ways and we will continue to bring value for our clients and partners.”

The global esports betting market is worth approximately $17.2 billion as of the end of 2020, according to Wholesale Investor. As casinos and traditional sporting events continue to adjust to the global pandemic, many organizations — and esports fans — have turned to esports betting as an additional source of revenue. That is why it is crucial that consumers have access to the most accurate data available.

Partnership delivers gamified, collectable, affordable and carbon-positive NFTs to esports community 

Esports tournament organiser BLAST Premier and Bondly, the premiere NFT solutions provider, have teamed up to launch a fun, affordable and gamified collection of NFTs featuring original artwork of chickens synonymous with Counter-Strike.

BLAST’s first NFT chicken-themed collection goes on sale on Tuesday, June 15. Powered by the Bondly platform, BLAST NFTs start at $18 USD. Through June 14, esports fans can sign up at (www.blastchickencoop.digital) to receive an exclusive BLAST founder’s edition NFT in a digital wallet.

Chickens are a popular and jovial reference point for Counter-Strike – becoming the unofficial animal and adopted pet of the game. BLAST and Bondly have taken this iconic and prevalent part of the Counter-Strike universe and created a digitalised offering that resonates with the esports and NFT community.

BLAST has created two teams (Team Red and Team Blue) of three chicken characters each with their own distinct personality. Through Bondly’s gamification process, the chicken NFT owner has the ability to upgrade it by blending multiple NFTs using BondSwap. In addition, users can choose their favourite character, collect an entire team or hold onto their best and rarest chicken NFTs through gamification.

Bondly utilises Polygon (MATIC) Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism that allows for the safe, accessible and environmentally friendly creation, integration and purchase of NFTs – making for digital artwork collectibles that are available to everyone. Every chicken NFT created through this process will be carbon positive.

Faye Marlborough, Head of Merchandise for BLAST, said: “When we approached the idea of making available a range of collectable NFTs, we wanted to ensure we were creating something that was fun, accessible and affordable – while ensuring these collectables are more than just a product but an experience. We’re excited to work with Bondly to help navigate us through our first venture into NFTs, their technology and expertise will ensure a simple, environmentally aware and enjoyable introduction into the world of NFTs for our community.”

Jack Flaherty, CEO of Sports at Bondly, said: “BLAST’s chicken-themed NFTs developed by Bondly, extends the fan’s feeling of competition beyond the tournament through buying, collecting, and trading of our gamified NFTs. Combining our design studio and proprietary technologies, we have created the first ever NFT swap-based gamification experience for esports fans.”

Bondly was the first to go to market with unique products in partnership with influencers and musicians and collaborations with gaming/collectibles creators. Bondly created and distributed YouTuber/ Influencer Logan Paul’s first-ever limited-edition series of NFT collectibles for fans, selling out in only 30-minutes. Lewis Capaldi, two-time BRIT Award Winner with 15 Billion streams and chart topping hits worldwide, partnered with Bondly and quickly sold out his Big Fat Sexy Card Collection (NFT), with the vast majority purchased by a non-crypto audience. Singer/songwriter PelleK quickly sold out the first-ever NFT music album using Bondly’s core product, BONDSwap.

BLAST Premier is a global Counter-Strike tournament series that unites all major CS:GO events, offers opportunities to all regions across the globe and crowns the world champions of CS:GO. Up to 32 teams will take part in the seven BLAST Premier events this year with a combined prize pool of $2,475,000 on the line, where the best teams and players will compete.

Prodigy Agency, a leading esports representation agency, has appointed Guilhem Causse, a prominent expert with over 10 years of experience in the sports industry to the role of Head of Sales & Partnerships, to lead and expand its initiative to generate commercial opportunities for its players.

Prodigy Agency, founded and directed by Jérôme Coupez, represent more than 100 players around the world , including some of the biggest stars in esports like Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski on CS:GO, Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom and Tyson “TenZ” Ngo on Valorant, Alexandre “Kaydop” Courant on Rocket League, or Paul “sOAZ” Boyer on League of Legends.

Before joining Prodigy Agency, Guilhem was leading the strategic growth of Infront Group’s digital entity in Europe, one of the leading full-service sports marketing companies in the world, working with premium brands such as NASCAR with emerging technologies to engage fans and drive sponsorship revenue, Activision Blizzard to handle the platforms of their teams ecosystem, Chelsea FC with the award winning app “5th stand”, PGA Tour with entertaining digital experiences or Under Armour to revitalize their ad landscape.

Prior to that, he had the opportunity to manage and lead innovative digital strategy and business growth with various revenue streams at “Amaury Sport Organisation” (A.S.O.), a company organizing over 90 sports events worldwide, including Le Tour de France in cycling or Dakar Rally in motorsport to implement engaging sponsorship operations, digital rights deals, D2C services and entertaining gaming licenses.

With extensive experience in sport and working with premium brands and agencies, as well as sharing the Players First mindset and strong values of Prodigy Agency, Guilhem is the perfect match to spearhead the Sales and Partnerships growth of Prodigy and its players.

Representing the world-class roster of Prodigy Agency, with more than 100 players around the globe, Guilhem will be leading the charge and initiatives to develop and diversify revenue streams for the players, by developing new commercial opportunities through ambassadorships, sponsorships, licensing and more, with a focus on creating collaborations with non-endemic and major brands.

Leading global esports platform Challengermode has teamed up with multi-platform web browser Opera GX to create the world’s first grassroots esports fund, with the aim of  accelerating the growth of small emerging esports organisers in the UK, US and Germany. Think local sports clubs but for esports.

With a focus on supporting grassroots esports organisers in US, UK and Germany through prize pools Opera GX and Challengermode will enable these gaming communities to scale up and cut costs while simultaneously providing them with a scalable platform to reduce overheads.

Unlike other grassroots esports funds that largely focus on providing individual players a path to pro, Challengermode and Opera GX’s offering is focused on the ground level infrastructure that is needed to foster long term esports engagement – increasing accessibility and the staying power of small scale esports initiatives. The initial round will focus on organisers in Valorant, CS:GO, League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics.

Philip Hübner, Chief Business Development Officer at Challengermode said: “Grassroots esports communities act as the introduction to esports for thousands of players around the world. But because of the evolving nature of the esports space local and third-party efforts organisations are often fragmented, underfunded, and lack the polish you’d expect from an established sport. These are pain points we want to eliminate with this fund, empowering esports organizers to easily create their own dedicated space for their community, reducing their costs and giving players a respectable prize pool.”

Maciej Kocemba, Product Director of Opera GX: “Opera GX has a long association as a browser of choice to complement gaming, so partnering with Challengermode to encourage the next generation of esports players is a natural fit for us. So much of the money and attention in the esports industry orbits around the very top tier of competition, with little trickling down to the grassroots level. We want this fund to give grassroots organisations real staying power, making them institutions similar to existing local sports clubs.”

A total of $30,000 will be distributed to the various organisers through the fund, with external platform support provided by Challengermode to streamline setting up tournaments and competitions.