Obviously video games are big business, but the gaming landscape is quickly shifting, and spectator gaming is likely to be the biggest arena for profits. We’ve come a long way from the days of Atari.
In 2013, Major League Gaming invested a large amount of money in launching its own livestreaming platform. It was a smart move as it’s now attracting upwards of 15 million viewers a month.
Thanks to the MLG.tv video-streaming site, MLG saw a huge increase in its audience. The company relaunched the platform last year as a media destination for original e-sports programming and gaming tournaments. This boosted the ratings by over 1,000 percent as well as the length of time a viewer watches a stream. A November MLG championship event attracted some 15 million unique people online.
MLG is also working to expand its brand and branching out into other sporting events as well. In May, they joined up with ESPN’s XGames in Austin to add a little Call of Duty amid the bmx and skateboard action.
“The popularity of competitive gaming and the MLG Pro Circuit is at an all-time high with millions watching the best gamers compete each month on MLG.tv,” MLG EVP of sales, Don Reilley, said. “This collaboration with X Games will help further bring MLG to the mainstream while we provide advertisers with quality exposure and deep engagement with our fan base on MLG.tv across all platforms.”
Millions of fans, big profits, collaborations with actual sporting events; could MLG one day outshine the Super Bowl? Probably not, but never say never.