TNL eSports Brand Tracker 016: Bud Light eSports All Stars

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TNL ESPORTS BRAND TRACKER 016: Bud Light eSports All Stars

(Photo: Bud Light)

TNL Take: After years of involvement with traditional sports, Bud Light is partnering with eSports for the first time.

Starting next week, fans will vote for their favorite All-Stars of who the top players will engage the community via live streaming, custom content, tournaments, and onsite activations.

When looking at the top Ad Categories by spending, at least 1 Brand within each Category has invested within Gaming: Retail, Auto, Telco, Financial Services, CPG, QSR, Insurance, Beverage, etc.

In my 10+ years at the intersection of Gaming and Advertising, there’s been 1–2 Alcohol programs total (Coors Light did a program with Xbox 360 in 2014 and a Mobile Game in 2015). Not only had the Category not been expanded, the entrance comes from the world’s largest brewer with $50B in revenue that paid $1.4B to be the Official Beer sponsor of the NFL.

The challenge came down to two factors: Age targeting limitations and the audience size post targeting.

eSports is the perfect medium for this demo as SuperData and Newzoo have already said (coupled with internal live streaming data), the majority of viewership and audience is 21+.

The data below from Gaming research firm EEDAR is for players only but provides additional corroboration for the 21+ audience:

(Photo: EEDAR)

I also like that the program incorporates a few different elements:

  • Fan Engagement: Vote for your favorite eSports players supported by…
  • Events: Athletes reveal at Dreamhack. Winners announced at E3. All-Star Tournament at TwitchCon. Onsite Activations.
  • Custom Content: Exclusive streams on Twitch and a Behind-the-Scenes series developed by Machinima.

Is the program perfect?

No.

But for all the reasons above it’s a great start. Big hand to all those involved on the Brand, Agency, and Platform/Event side to make this happen.

For new Brands engaging with eSports, 2016 is off to a fantastic start.