Twitch Signs Three-Year Deal Broadcast RightsWith ELS And DreamHack
Twitch, Amazon’s global eSports-focused streaming platform, signed a three-year broadcast rights agreement with gaming companies ESL — world’s largest eSports company — and DreamHack — the top gaming lifestyle festival.
The deal makes Twitch the centralized hub for steaming both Modern Time’s Group gaming companies. The platform plans to work directly with both entities to maximize sponsorship possibilities for some of the largest eSports tournaments as well as coordinate all broadcast integrations.
“Live streaming esports has belonged to Twitch in recent years,” stated Frank Uddo, ESL’s senior vice president for global media. “As we continue to host some of the world’s largest esports tournaments, it feels only natural to work even closer with Twitch to provide the best gaming experience for fans, as well as safeguard the future of the esports industry.”
The streaming rights are on a non-exclusive basis in 2020 until Twitch gains broader exclusivity for the English language digital live-streaming rights for major events in 2021 to 2022. Exclusions will also apply where linear television broadcast networks own their digital rights platforms.
“ESL and Twitch have been key players in the history of esports as we know it,” stated Benjamin Vallat, SVP of Alliances and Corporate Development at Twitch. “The continuation of our partnership will strengthen not only the content offerings for fans, but also the greater esports community that ESL, Dreamhack, and Twitch have cultivated over the years.
“As part of the partnership, Twitch will become a centralised hub for streaming ESL and DreamHack competitions. The company will work directly with ESL and DreamHack to coordinate broadcast integrations and maximise sponsorships of some of the biggest esports tournaments going forward.”
The hope is that the partnership will strengthen the various experience and content offerings to fans and thus build a greater eSports community. The deal reaffirms the value ESL-DreamHack eSports content bring to the entirety of the Twitch community.
- All Tournaments Streamed in English Exclusively on Twitch in 2021–2022: ESL Pro Tour for CS:GO and StarCraft II & Warcraft III, including the ESL Pro League, ESL One, Intel® Extreme Masters, DreamHack Masters, DreamHack Open, ESL National Championships, will be exclusively on Twitch in 2021 and 2022.
