ESL has today announced that it has partnered with Hulu to bring esports content to a streaming video on-demand service for the first time.
This arrangement includes four new esports series, titled Player v. Player, Bootcamp, Defining Moments and ESL Replay.
Significantly, this marks Hulu’s first foray into esports. They appear to have started well by signing a deal which will see all titles developed and produced by ESL, with the content exclusively available on the service from autumn.
Nik Adams, Senior Vice President of Global Media Rights and Distribution, ESL commented: “The partnership with Hulu marks ESL’s first original series on an on-demand streaming service, and will showcase the diverse nature of esports through high quality storytelling.
“Esports appeals to a younger, more digitally savvy audience so Hulu is a perfect platform to build out our original content and expose the world of esports to new audiences.”
ESL’s selection of programming were designed to explore the various facets of esports, from athlete training and preparation, to news, industry trends, and coverage of ESL’s tournaments.
Lisa Holme, Vice President of Content Acquisition, Hulu noted: “Esports is one of the fastest growing areas of media and entertainment, and, through this first-of-its-kind deal with ESL, we can now bring the popular world of esports to Hulu.
“We know our viewers, especially those watching Hulu on consoles, are hungry for this type of content – so we’re excited to offer it on Hulu for the first time.”
Player V. Player will be a ‘gamified debate show’, Bootcamp is a weekly docu-series following Immortals in the lead up to IEM Oakland, Defining Moments is a look at ‘the most impactful moments in esports history’, whilst ESL Replay is a ‘fast-paced, condensed, documentary style recap of the most memorable moments from four of the biggest multi-day esports tournaments in the world’.
Esports Insider says: This is highly significant as it’s the first example of esports content on a streaming video on demand service. We can safely assume that the likes of Netflix and NowTV are either having similar discussions, or will now be considering them. This is great news for ESL too, and kudos to Hulu for taking the leap.
