London-based esports organization Fnatic announced a long-term exclusive streaming partnership with global streaming platform Twitch. All players across all of Fnatic’s collection of professional esports teams will stream live content exclusively on Twitch as part of the deal.
Fnatic owns pro teams for popular gaming titles such as League of Legends, FIFA, and Fortnite. To make streams more interactive for fans, Twitch and Fnatic will work together to create live shows, product promotions, and giveaways that will appear on Fnatic’s team Twitch channels and players’ individual pages.
“Undeniably, Twitch remains the best platform for fans and players when it comes to gameplay, and it is where most of our fans are engaging with this content already,” said Wouter Sleijffers, Fnatic CEO, in a press release. “What makes this partnership special is that we believe Fnatic and Twitch share the vision of bringing esports into every household through new forms of content that deliver an incredible viewing experience.”
The inaugural event as part of this new streaming partnership took place in mid-January, when Fnatic’s League of Legends team revealed its new One-Plus sponsored jerseys for the upcoming season. “As the premier destination for esports with a focus on both the streamer and spectator experience, we plan to work closely with Fnatic to foster even more engagement around their exciting content,” added Petya Zheleva, esports partnerships manager, EMEA at Twitch.
SportTechie Takeaway
This move is rooted in Fnatic and Twitch’s mutual desire to increase the fan engagement levels of Fnatic’s streamed esports events. This past NFL season, Twitch added interactive features such as digital overlays that show real-time stats and unique choices for audio feeds, which likely helped the Amazon-owned platform see a 47 percent viewing increase on Thursday Night Football in 2018. Fnatic will hope its new interactive features will lead to its esports streams reaping the same level of increased viewing and fan engagement on the platform.