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Esports Entertainment Leader Joins Forces with Leading Esports Training and Development Pioneers To Take Teen Esports Events To A Global Audience

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Two leaders in the flourishing, multi-faceted market of Esports are joining forces to provide unprecedented access and opportunities to high school esports competitors and enthusiasts.

EsportsTower LLC, the largest amateur training club in North America, has signed an exclusive partnership with ESTV EsportsTV to extend their wildly popular Esports Tower Rumble events to a global audience. First aired in February 2021, Rumble events were streamed on Twitch through a partnership with Boise State University. With the addition of ESTV, weekly events are expected to reach over 150,000 unique viewers weekly per game title. ESTV is the first worldwide 24-7 live, linear video channel dedicated to esports. Launched in May 2019, ESTV provides round-the-clock coverage of esports athletes and gaming franchises from an insider perspective.

Esports Tower branded Rumble events feature amateur high school club players who want to go pro and score college scholarships while playing against top-ranked high school teams. Adding to the excitement, college partners this year have helped build out the mental health and wellness-inspired Esports Tower ApproachTM curriculum and contributed nearly $2-million in scholarship awards. Pro-teams have also started scouting Esports Tower clubs for talent, with team Kungarna announcing a tryout event planned for mid-December as the company launches its newest game – Apex Legends. Esports Tower currently offers club members live training twice weekly, along with weekly events where players test out new skills in action and gain insights from insiders about working in the fast-growing industry of esports. Current games include Rocket League, Valorant, Overwatch, and Fortnite.

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“Watching high-ranked players in solo-queue doesn’t tell us much. What we like about Esports Tower is we get to see players in the development phase. We watch their progress in Rumbles from week to week and ultimately their coachability.” said Dr. Chris “Doc” Haskel, Head Coach at Boise State University and 2020 College Esports Coach of the Year (NAECAD), 2020 Esports Director of the Year (NACE).

“What I loved about talking with Esports Tower players last month is they remind me of myself. They’re eager to learn, open to critique, and unafraid to ask questions. And some of their players are better than you’d expect – I watched as one took out top-ranked Tenz when they played at this summer’s BFC Smeag Cup hosted by FaZe BabyBay, it only happened once, but it was unexpected and made for great entertainment!” said Thomas “Trippy” Schappy, FaZe Trippy Head Coach For TheFaZe Valorant Team.

“We are thrilled to partner with Eric and the team at ESTV. Their global platform is found on family-friendly devices and viewable via Roku, Amazon Fire, Sling, and many other providers in over 45 countries,” said David Adams, CEO and founder of Esports Tower. “We strive to do more than any other amateur organization to get our players seen and considered for collegiate and pro-opportunities. Partnering with ESTV is a natural step in helping our Generation-Z athletes expand their personal brand while supporting our college partners seeking to recruit top talent for their varsity teams.”

“We experienced some of the highest tune-in rates when we piloted Esports TowerRumbles last month,” said, Geoff Kowalski, Chief Revenue Officer of ESTV. “Esports Tower’s gameplay is compelling, and their interviews and editorial content provides interesting and entertaining insights of what happens behind the scenes showing what players do to advance both their gameplay and goals to go pro. It will be a great addition to ESTV programming and sponsorships, given it’s appeal to elusive teen viewers and their families.”

ESTV was launched in 2019 to meet the demand for round-the-clock coverage of esports athletes and gaming franchises from an insider perspective. Today, it’s the first dedicated channel for esports and gaming personalities, with programming providing round-the-clock coverage of esports athletes and gaming franchises from an insider perspective.

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“ESTV’s mission is to deliver the most innovative esports and gaming programming available everywhere,” said Eric Yoon, Founder and CEO of ESTV. “As ESTV distributes the world’s best esports content on a linear programming schedule, Esports Tower will be a foundational pillar in our mission to provide content for all esports fans, promote opportunities within esports and expand the presence of esports media in homes across the globe.”

The alliance follows new original programming and expanded Rumble titles offered at Esports Tower.

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IESF Concludes 16th Ordinary General Meeting in Riyadh

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The International Esports Federation (IESF) held its 16th Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) on November 18, bringing together over 150 delegates from the member federations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Before the official start of the assembly, IESF welcomed representatives from the Saudi Olympic & Paralympic Committee (SOPC) and the Esports World Cup Foundation (EWCF). Abdulaziz Baeshin, CEO of SOPC presented Saudi Arabia’s progress in Esports and sports development and their vision moving forward. Frank Weber, Director of Corporate Marketing at EWCF discussed the success of the EWCF and highlight upcoming plans for the future.

In his opening speech, IESF President HRH Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud expressed gratitude for the number of delegates who attended the assembly. He reflected on the federation’s success and achievements over the past year, the key areas for improvement, and the necessity of continued close collaboration among members.

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The first session of the assembly continued with reviewing motions submitted by the members and voting on their acceptance or rejection. The members also voted to grant Full Membership status to Canada, Germany, Latvia, and Malta.

The second session of the OGM was dedicated to electing key positions within the IESF Board and committees. The results are:

  • Board Member: Mr. Samart Benjamin Assarasakorn

  • Treasurer: Mr. Daniel Wen Jun Loy

Membership Committee Members:

  • Mr. Soufiane El Filali

  • Mr. Jaroslav Melishek

Audit, Risk, and Governance Committee:

  • Chair: Mr. Tomas Gabris

  • Members: Mr. Jacopo Ierussi and Mr. Stevan Nenad Rosic

Regulatory Committee Chair:

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  • Mr. Ido Orel Brosh

In his concluding statement, IESF General Secretary Boban Totovski congratulated the assembly on a productive and democratic meeting. He expressed his appreciation for the valuable insights shared by members and their dedication to the growth of the IESF.

“This year’s assembly demonstrated the strength of our community and the shared vision that drives IESF forward. I thank everyone for their contributions to a democratic and smooth process, and I look forward to welcoming more member federations to our family next year and even greater success” said Totovski.

The OGM 2024 in Riyadh was another step forward in IESF’s mission to unite the Esports world under a shared vision. With the growing number of national federations, the IESF continues to cement its role as the largest Esports family.

The post IESF Concludes 16th Ordinary General Meeting in Riyadh appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Chad Kinlay Chief Marketing Officer TrafficGuard

Influencers, Content and eSports: Unleashing the Power of Dynamic Strategies in the eSports Ecosystem

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The sports betting industry is undergoing significant growth worldwide with restrictions loosening and new markets emerging. New opportunities create fierce competition among sportsbooks, and this has led to them devising increasingly expensive and aggressive advertising campaigns.

Public figures and influencers have become a popular go-to for sportsbooks promotions, such as Michael Jordan partnering with DraftKings or Jamie Foxx with BetMGM. Big names are costly, and sportsbooks haven’t realised the ad spend used on these campaigns is going to waste. Without the right precautions in place, up to 22% of ad spend is lost to fraud according to Juniper Research.

The big budgets behind high-profile brand campaigns need to translate into real user engagement. To achieve this, sportsbooks must ensure their digital channels are optimised to capture the surge in interest these campaigns generate. Without proper management, this potential can be lost to inefficiencies like invalid traffic, diluting the impact of their investments.

 

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Ad Budgets Going to Waste

In today’s competitive landscape, sportsbooks need to make every click count. In 2023 alone, The American Gaming Association estimated that over $1.9 billion was spent on advertising campaigns in the US. With such a large amount of spend in play, it’s crucial that sportsbooks see as big a Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) as possible.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns are vital for sportsbook growth but can be disrupted by invalid traffic (IVT). IVT includes both malicious activity, like fraudulent bots, and unintentional actions, such as users repeatedly clicking on ads without intent to convert. These interactions inflate impressions and skew campaign performance data, leading to higher customer acquisition costs (CACs) and inefficient allocation of ad spend. Effectively managing IVT ensures that ad budgets drive genuine engagement and measurable growth.

Investing into influencers and celebrities also forces sportsbooks to bid on brand keywords to prevent their competitors stealing potential users searching for them. Up to 29% of PPC budgets are spent on this bidding according to Wordstream. As competition for brand keywords increases, PPC budgets are depleted without generating any new net revenue.

As campaigns become more expensive than ever, sportsbooks can’t afford to let profits fall to ad fraud. Instead of cutting budgets, sportsbooks should focus on analysing their campaign strategy.

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Problematic Navigational Traffic

Navigational traffic is also presenting a significant challenge to sportsbooks alongside ad fraud. Navigational traffic refers to existing customers clicking on branded keywords to log into their accounts. While this seems convenient and harmless enough, this behaviour drastically inflates CACs. Like ad fraud, this can skew the effectiveness of PPC campaigns. By utilising paid search results instead of organic links to navigate to the site, costs are driven up without contributing to new user acquisition.

In addition to the challenges posed by navigational traffic and ad fraud, the competitive landscape for first-time depositors intensifies the need for strategic bidding on Google search. Brands investing heavily in influencers or sponsorships of major sporting events to generate awareness and drive potential users to search for them. However, without securing top placements in paid search results, these prospective customers may be intercepted by competitors before reaching the organic search listings. This creates a critical juncture where the effectiveness of a brand campaign hinges on converting that intent-driven traffic into first-time depositors, ensuring marketing spend achieves its goal of meaningful user acquisition.

First-time depositors are a critical metric for sportsbooks, and this issue directly impacts the cost efficiency of acquiring them. High CACs make marketing budgets less effective, reducing overall ROI.

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Shoring Up Your Defences

Before launching costly ad campaigns, sportsbooks should adopt a multi-faceted approach to address ad fraud. IVT typically goes unnoticed, so to prevent this sportsbooks should monitor and analyse their campaign traffic for any suspicious activity. It is possible to identify IVT by looking out for signs such as irregular spikes in traffic from unknown locations or high pageviews. Fraudulent traffic can then by highlighted and removed.

The advancement of technology has made ad fraud more difficult to identify, and legacy fraud tools fail to detect IVT. They don’t analyse traffic at the impression level or consider the context of the business advertising. Sportsbooks can leverage ad-verification platforms to compensate for this. This allows sportsbooks to analyse and report suspicious traffic in real-time. Fraud can then be blocked before it has a chance to harm budgets.

Sportsbooks can also deploy tactics to reduce the impact of navigational traffic on CACs. Methods include encouraging existing customers to use mobile apps or direct bookmarks to log into their accounts instead of paid search campaigns. This decreases their reliance on PPC campaigns for navigation and protects budgets.

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Keeping Profits in Sportsbooks’ Hands

Influencer and celebrity campaigns have proven to be a popular and useful tool in reeling new users and profits. However, if sportsbooks don’t have the essential precautions in place, they risk losing these profits to advertising fraud.

To make the most of their advertising efforts, sportsbooks need to prioritise their traffic. Implementing sophisticated tools to analyse traffic and filter out fraud will allow sportsbooks to protect their interests and focus on driving future growth. This way, they can secure their position in an increasingly competitive landscape.

 

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Written by: Chad Kinlay, Chief Marketing Officer, TrafficGuard

A driven, open-minded, creative senior marketer with a strong sense of dedication and commitment. With over 15 years of progressive international experience in marketing and communications management, Kinlay has a credible history of commercial success.

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8Bit Creatives partners with NODWIN Gaming as the exclusive talent partner for DreamHack India

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8Bit Creatives, India’s leading esports consulting and talent management agency, has announced its partnership with NODWIN Gaming, a leader in new-age youth entertainment, gaming, and esports, as the exclusive Talent Partner for DreamHack India 2024.

With this partnership, 8Bit Creatives will leverage its significant reach in the Indian gaming, esports and youth communities through its prominent and talented roster of creators. These creators will create content leading up to the festival and also host meet-and-greet sessions.

India’s biggest gaming festival, DreamHack India, is set to take place from 15th to 17th November at the Hitex Exhibition Centre in Hyderabad, marking its fifth edition. For half a decade, the India edition of the global festival has become one of the most anticipated events of the Indian gaming ecosystem. Bringing together a plethora of events, including esports tournaments, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) events, cosplay competitions, music concerts, and stand-up comedy, DreamHack India is the celebration of gaming, esports, pop-culture, and entertainment.

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8Bit Creatives, CEO and founder Animesh Agarwal said “DreamHack India is one of the most prominent events in the Indian gaming and esports calendar and we’re proud to be the exclusive talent partners for it. This is further recognition of 8Bit Creatives’ ability to meaningfully engage the gaming and youth audiences across the country. Our belief in working with the right creators who create experiences that resonate with the youth audiences distinguishes our offerings and we can’t wait to share what we have in store for DreamHack India 2024 with our audiences!”

This is not the first time that 8Bit Creatives will partner with DreamHack India. The organisation was also the talent partner for the event in 2022.

Commenting on the partnership, NODWIN Gaming, Co-founder and MD Akshat Rathee said “Our vision at NODWIN Gaming is to create unforgettable experiences for the youth, and DreamHack has proven to be the ultimate platform to realise that vision, bringing together gaming, entertainment, and community in an immersive celebration. We’re thrilled to have 8Bit Creatives as our exclusive Talent Partner for DreamHack India 2024. It’s especially exciting to welcome iconic creators like Mortal, who joined us in our very first edition, back for this landmark fifth year, alongside fan favourites like Snax, Kaashvi, Thug, and Payal. These creators bring a unique energy that connects deeply with our fans and elevates every moment. Their presence underscores our commitment to crafting electrifying experiences year after year, building on the momentum of events like BGMS and past DreamHack editions. Together with 8Bit and this powerhouse lineup, we’re setting the stage for an unforgettable event that will bring fans and creators closer than ever before!”

8Bit Creatives’s content and esports division S8UL became the only organisation in the year to win ‘Content Group of the Year’ award for the third consecutive year at the Esports Awards 2024. Additionally, they are the only organisation from India to ever win an Esports Award in any category. Earlier this year, gaming content creators from 8Bit Creatives including Naman Mathur, Payal Dhare and Animesh “Thug” Agarwal were invited for a meet and greet session with the honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

The organisation has been at the forefront of India’s gaming and content ecosystem with its extensive range of services, including talent management, campaign curation and execution, brand activations and more.

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