Hi-Rez Studios and its esports league operator subsidiary Skillshot Media have partnered with sports audience monetization platform FanAI.
This partnership will see FanAI provide enriched data on the players of Hi-Rez Studios’ games: SMITE, Paladins, and Realm Royale.
The deal also sees “anonymized player data” from the aforementioned titles being integrated into FanAI’s platforms – including games played and play time – to provide a “deeper look at gaming and esports audience segments”.
Todd Harris, Co-founder and COO of Hi-Rez Studios and President of Skillshot Media commented: “At Hi-Rez, providing the best experience for our audience and supporting activations that best serve them is very important. With the data and audience analytics provided by FanAI, we will be able to better serve our existing fans while paving the way for a bigger exciting future for our players.”
Hi-Rez Studios will utilise the data provided by FanAI to launch new esports activations and run events and competitions for the games’ grassroots communities.
Johannes Waldstein, Founder and CEO of FanAI also discussed the partnership: “Working with Hi-Rez and Skillshot will give FanAI a unique opportunity within esports and gaming. With the addition of their player information to our existing audience data sources, we can see who is playing games, who is watching esports, how much they are playing and watching, if that watching is online or at an offline event, and much more.
“We now have the full circle of audience information to help guide brands in their activations and help Hi-Rez show the value of their particular audience. No one else has this level of granular audience information to provide direction and support for marketing, sponsorship, and sales activities.”
Esports Insider says: In theory, better understanding your audience means you have the opportunity to cater to them better. If this data is used in the right way then it could lead to plenty of great events and even better support for amateur competitors, which is very promising for any competitive scene.