Yesterday evening mobile esports company, Skillz, announced a suite of solutions for brands to engage consumers through mobile esports, including the opportunity to host brand-sponsored tournaments.
This is the first time consumer brands have had the ability to reach and engage the Skillz audience of over 10 million people and counting.
The new offerings for brands include the ability to sponsor mobile esports tournaments across thousands of Skillz-enabled games. Brands can choose to sponsor an entire game, or sponsor specific tournaments within a game. They are also able to host and sponsor physical events where players can compete at in-person tournaments, or work with social influencers via live-streamed events on Twitch, YouTube and other streaming sites.
Andrew Paradise, Founder and CEO of Skillz commented: “As esports continue to gain popularity, we’re seeing the same evolution we saw with offline sports like basketball and football. It starts by defining rules, then building a player base, and finally adding broadcast and spectator opportunities. When the transformation of a game into a sport hits an inflection point, major brands want to get involved.
“With mobile esports now representing more than 30% of the industry’s prizes, we’re excited to give brands a way to connect with the diverse audience that mobile has attracted.”
Established international brands like Coca-Cola, Intel and Snickers have already gravitated toward esports through various sponsorships and are helping bring more attention and viewership to the rapidly expanding industry. Whilst there are reportedly 2.1 billion mobile gamers, mobile esports remains the least engaged platform though this is set to change with Amazon set to make some big moves.
This was discussed in an interview that we had with Andrew Paradise which can be found here.
Parties interested in the new sponsorship opportunities from Skillz can contact [email protected] or visit www.skillz.com.
Esports Insider says: Skillz dominates mobile esports right now but with the sharks circling, moves such as this will help this situation continue in the long term. It should also bolster prize pools which will lead to more intense competition in mobile esports as a whole. The potential to sponsor physical events also shows Skillz moving in an interesting new direction.
