NOVA ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH WORLD’S LARGEST ESPORTS COMPANY ESL
Announcement posted by ESL Gaming 21 May 2018
NOVA Entertainment, one of Australia’s leading entertainment companies, has today announced an exclusive strategic partnership with ESL, the world’s largest esports company.
This exclusive partnership will see NOVA Entertainment leverage its radio and digital platforms to promote ESL’s flagship event in Australia, IEM Sydney and the ESL AU & NZ Championships to the public. In addition, NOVA Entertainment will exclusively represent and sell ESL inventory for the ESL AU & NZ Championships in the Australian market.
Esports is characterised by multiplayer competitive video gameplay, typically by professional gamers, watched live or online by spectators. Audience growth has been phenomenal with the Australian fan base more than doubling in the past five years[1] and global audiences expected to grow 14% to 380m esports viewers in 20182. The predominantly sponsorship and advertising driven esports economy is also tipped to exceed $900m in revenues in 2018[2] up 38% on 2017.
Nathan Reay, NOVA Entertainment’s Head of M&A, Strategy and Partnerships said, “We are excited to partner with ESL, a global leader in esports, with an established award-winning presence in Australia. As esports experiences enormous growth, NOVA Entertainment is committed to being at the forefront of its expansion in Australia”.
The partnership, alongside Nova’s market leading Acast podcasting offering and the recent launch of millennial mobile-only platform GOAT, demonstrates the continued diversification of the company into a multi-platform entertainment business.
ESL has an extensive global digital footprint with over 2.2m followers on its largest Twitch streaming channel (ESL_CSGO) and over 1.6m Facebook followers on its global ESL page. IEM is the longest running global pro gaming tour in the world. The ESL AU & NZ championships will provide an exciting opportunity for brands to tailor sales and marketing opportunities for current esports fans whilst continuing to build audience.
Nick Vanzetti, ESL Australia’s Managing Director said, “ESL has pioneered the way in esports live events and broadcast innovation in Australia and it is our mission to continue to develop the ecosystem here. Partnering with NOVA Entertainment will provide the growth platform to bring mass audience to esports in Australia through IEM and the ESL AU & NZ Championships.”
About NOVA Entertainment
NOVA Entertainment is Australia’s fastest growing entertainment company with broad interests across the media industry. NOVA Entertainment owns and operates the Nova Network, the most listened to metro network in Australia, which includes Nova 96.9 Sydney, Nova 100 Melbourne, Nova 106.9 Brisbane, Nova 937 Perth and Nova 919 Adelaide. In addition, NOVA Entertainment also owns and operates smoothfm in Sydney and Melbourne, the talk station FIVEaa in Adelaide and Star 104.5 on the NSW Central Coast and three digital radio stations - smoothfm, Coles Radio and Koffee. The company’s radio stations are complemented by a range of digital assets across social, mobile and online which leverage the company’s content to provide new growth opportunities including Nova’s Red Room, the experiential and music event brand, smooth channel on FOXTEL, the smooth Festival of Chocolate in Sydney, the biggest podcast offering in the Australian market through partnership with Acast and the newly launched GOAT, a mobile only product, targeted at millennial consumers.
About ESL
ESL, a part of the international digital entertainment group MTG, is the world's largest esports company, leading the industry across the most popular video games with numerous online and offline competitions. It operates high profile, branded international and national leagues and tournaments such as the Intel® Extreme Masters, ESL One, ESL National Championships and other top tier stadium-size events, as well as grassroots amateur cups, leagues and matchmaking systems. ESL covers a broad field of services in gaming technology, event management, advertising and television production, fully catering to the needs of the esports ecosystem. With offices in North America, Germany, Russia, France, Poland, Spain, China, and partners in many other countries, it has a truly global footprint http://www.eslgaming.com/
ESL creates and promotes gaming experiences globally with its Australian flagship event, IEM Sydney, part of the longest running global pro gaming tour in the world. The annual competition features the world’s best gamers in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive amongst other esports titles with over $7m in prize money to date. Australia’s largest esports event, IEM Sydney returned for a second consecutive year at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena in May, building on its online audience of over 8 million last year. Additionally, the nationally focused ESL AU & NZ Championships is entering its third year of competition in 2018.
[1] Nielsen “The Esports Playbook: Australia” March 2018
[2] NewZoo “Newzoo: Global Esports Economy Will Reach $905.6 Million in 2018 as Brand Investment Grows by 48%” February 2018