Extending Its Reach: Azubu Announces 2 Year eSports Partnership With ESL
Published: Mar 11, 2016 - Last Updated: Jan 17, 2023
In a press release, Azubu, the eSports broadcasting company from Los Angeles, has announced a global eSports partnership and exclusive collaboration with ESL, the company that operates high profile, branded international, and national leagues and tournaments.
The partnership, according to the press release, will add Azubu to the roster of ESL’s streaming partners, and will provide Azubu with exclusive content and marketing collaborations such as licensing, distribution, and sales representation.
Azubu was founded in 2011 and has offices and strategic partnerships in North America, Europe, Brazil, Korea, China, Russia, and more. Last year, the company successfully raised $59 million of new capital for its live streaming business focused on eSports.
Azubu is also considered one of the main competitors of Twitch.
Both eSports companies eyeing future growth
Said Nik Adams, SVP of sales and business development at ESL Gaming:
“As eSports continue to grow exponentially all over the world, drawing larger audiences who want to immerse themselves in the games, experiences, and lifestyle, it becomes increasingly important for us to partner with the best platforms to provide access to our events as well as more value to brands who want to reach those audiences.
Azubu’s reach, user experience and passionate dedication to the esports lifestyle are second to none.”
Additionally, the partnership deal will make Azubu a non-exclusive streaming partner at ESL events, such as ESL One, IEM, and ESL Pro League, which include the most popular titles like Dota 2, League of Legends, and Counter Strike: GO. It will also make ESL’s 4 Media Network the sole sales representative for Azubu in Europe, handling advertising packages and global brand relationships.
“Azubu’s partnership with ESL will help both companies grow and expand their reach, which will ultimately better serve the explosively growing eSports audiences,” said Abe Gottesman, VP of business development at Azubu, continuing:
“This collaboration is more than a content and sales representation relationship. Azubu and ESL are strategically aligned on providing brands a more meaningful and innovative way to interact with the massive eSports demographic on a global level and to deliver Azubu’s eSports community the best eSports programming found anywhere on the planet.”
ESL making moves
Besides the partnership with Azubu, ESL has also recently extended its successful live eSports partnership with Twitch. The two companies have been working together for a half decade, helping each other gain popularity and growth. As many of Twitch’s 100+ million viewers tune in only for pro-gaming events, ESL helps Twitch feed that demanding crowd.
Viewership in the industry has been growing steadily over the past years, reaching 188 million in 2015, according to the market research company SuperData.
Good streaming and broadcasting platforms are the key to continuing this growth in the future. Therefore, ESL is making sure to partner up with the right people to offer only the best viewing and streaming experience to its fans.
Since: September 12, 2015
