Well established esports franchise Team Dignitas will no longer stream exclusively on Twitch, announcing that they will also offer live streaming on Facebook.
The aim of the expansion to Facebook is to drive fan engagement and offer interactive experiences across multiple platforms. The plans are set to get underway with Team Dignitas League of Legends top laner Chan-ho “Ssumday” Kim and jungler Sang-hyun “Chaser” Lee holding the team’s inaugural Facebook “Ask Me Anything” and game live stream on Wednesday, April 12 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm PT via Ssumday‘s and Chaser‘s facebook pages.
The action doesn’t stop there, with Dignitas announcing that their Overwatch players will do the same on April 13th. Elvinas “evokje” Padegimas will be live from 4:00 am to 5:30 am PT and Patrick “wat7” Marwal will stream from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm. For Heroes of the Storm fans, Dignitas’ Kenn “Zaelia” Rasmussen will stream from 5:30 am to 7:00 am PT in what’s sure to be an action packed launch.
“Given the tremendous global audience of over 1.86 billion people on Facebook and the world-wide interest in esports, we knew this was a tremendous opportunity to connect our talented players with current fans and new gaming audiences,” revealed Jonathan Kemp, Team Dignitas CEO.
He continued: “Team Dignitas players live streaming on Facebook and Twitch is only the beginning of what we hope will be a broader, more global and inclusive opportunity for our fans to enjoy live content on multiple platforms. Today we are proudly announcing our intent to lay that foundation for the future, as we continue to fulfil our promise to grow and create new access to this dynamic sport.”
“The interest in and level of fan engagement with players in the esports industry is unparalleled in professional sports today,” commented Chad Biggs, Philadelphia 76ers Senior Vice President of Corporate Partnership and Activation. “We are confident that opening up our broadcast to both the Facebook and Twitch audiences is a move that sets us apart from other esports teams, for both fans and partners. The interest has been incredible and we are anticipate announcing new, dynamic and differentiated corporate partnerships in the coming months.”
As mentioned by Chad, the new partnership could pave the way for non-endemic sponsorship as those from a world outside of esports are much more familiar with the social media platform. Many teams that have migrated away from Twitch to different platforms have seen lower viewership figures as a result of the move. Many esports and gaming consumers log in on Twitch and see who, of their followed streamers, is live. Should their favourite streamers not be listed as live, they don’t tend to explore other platforms, instead opting to watch someone else that they follow.
Esports Insider says: This is an announcement that clearly has great potential. It’ll be interesting to see the viewership numbers achieved and if esports and gaming fans feel that the Facebook platform allows a similar viewer experience.