Esports

About the project

Esports is the generic term for all organized, multiplayer video game competitions, usually between professionals. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are already hooked and spend time watching competitive video gaming, as well as filling huge arenas to cheer on their favourite competitors.

As one of the fastest-growing media markets of this century, there is a growing interest in exploring different ways of bringing this sport to wider audiences. Whether starting out or looking to expand your esports-related content, Members can capitalize on existing technical and format expertise from more traditional forms of entertainment and sports coverage. 

The EBU is currently assessing further support for Members in this sector. Initial proposals fall into 4 main categories:

• exchange of knowledge and tools
• exchange of esports news
• collective rights acquisitions, and
• training

Our services

Workshops and best practices

Our team at EBU Media is currently working on benchmarking for esports and facilitating the exchange of best practices amongst EBU Members. Join one of our workshops where you can pitch your esports projects and ideas, or share what works and what doesn't. Future esports workshops will:

• bring together sports experts and content producers to help them come up with innovative and engaging formats
• provide the opportunity to build and share open-source tools for esports programming

A collection of esports content currently being produced by PSM organizations can be found on our Showcase platform.

News coverage

The News Exchange offers access to the ESL Gaming Network, a major esports tournament series, for free use by all EBU Members throughout 2018. We are looking to acquire more esports content in future with media becoming increasingly interested in updates from ongoing tournaments around the world, fan comments and reactions, professional insights, industry highlights, reports and news coverage.

Sports rights

Our EBU Sport team is keen to leverage its experience in media rights and partner with leading esports operators to offer e-sports content alongside more traditional sports deals. In September 2017, we entered into discussions with Ubisoft to make the finals of the Steep™ Road to the Olympics tournament available to Members – bringing a fresh dimension to the 2018 Winter Olympics. EBU Sport Members can join the discussion about future esports opportunities at the 22nd Sports Assembly in March 2018.

Training

Always ahead of the game, EBU Academy delivered its first Master Class on esports and gamification in Berlin in 2016, in partnership with the Institute for Ludology and the Design Academy of Berlin. The Master Class brought together speakers from the German Trade Association of Interactive Entertainment Software, ESL Gaming Network, YouTube and the Engaginglab.

Showcase

Explore our esports gallery in Showcase, our media sharing platform, to find innovative projects created by EBU Members and partners. To gain access, you must be an EBU Member or part of our esports community.

Publication

Download our report "How are EBU Members exploring esports?" which gives an overview of EBU Members’ experiences and learning curves as they experiment with esports content and outlines our efforts to help Members succeed in bringing the excitement of esports to their audiences.

Contact