Tournament organizer and global esports company ESL will soon be streaming 1,500 hours of exclusive esports content on Facebook Live in six different languages. All told, over 5,500 hours of live tournament programming will appear on the social platform in the coming months.
ESL will stream an exclusive weekly half hour Counter-Strike:Global Offensive show on the platform, which will include highlights, analysis and discussion of emerging esports players. Additionally, the organization will stream on Facebook Live Rank S competitions from the CS:GO Community along with all ESL One and Intel Extreme Masters events in English, French and Polish, among other languages.
Earlier this year, Twitter also partnered with ESL and DreamHack to live stream 1,500 hours of esports content in 2017, including a weekly 30-minute show and content around ESL One and Intel Extreme Masters, too.
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“With over 1.94 billion monthly active users on Facebook, this is a huge step toward expanding the reach of esports among mainstream audiences,” Johannes Schiefer, Vice President of Social Media and Editorial at ESL said in a statement. “Last year, ESL content generated over 2 billion impressions and reached over 200 million users on Facebook globally. Now, with the addition of live streaming for all major ESL events, as well as exclusive content around CS:GO and ESEA, we are excited to expand our reach to more audiences and build strong local communities of highly engaged esports fans.”
ESEA is ESL’s subscription-based community comprising different levels of CS:GO players while the Rank S competitions is composed of 300 of the best ESEA players from North America and Europe all vying for a $40,000 monthly prize pool in both regions.
Added Patrick Chapman, Gaming and Esports Partnerships at Facebook said in a statement: “Rank S is defined by the world’s best CS:GO gameplay and it’s fueled by a knowledgeable, passionate fan base that craves great live matches, news and analysis. Delivering original video content to this audience ties directly to Facebook’s commitment to build the world’s community for people to play, watch and share games they love. ESL’s use of Facebook Groups as a cornerstone of its video distribution strategy is an innovative approach that encourages greater participation from the vibrant community of CS:GO fans around the world.”