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Tag: CBS Interactive

  • CBS Interactive Gets Into the eSports Game

    CBS Interactive (CBSi), the online information and entertainment division of CBS, announced today that it will be jumping into live gaming and eSports through two new partnerships with Major League Gaming (MLG) and TwitchTV. MLG is the largest competitive eSports organization and hosts Pro Circuit gaming tournaments in cities around the U.S. TwitchTV is JustinTV’s video game streaming site and bills itself as the world’s largest video game broadcasting and chat community. With the new partnerships, CBSi estimates it will stream more than 3 billion minutes of live gaming and eSports content monthly.

    “The eSports scene is one of the hottest trends in video, and is rapidly attracting the core 18-34 male demographic in greater numbers than any other medium or category,” said Jim Lanzone, President of CBS Interactive. “With these partnerships, CBSi now represents the biggest audience in live gaming and is able to offer our advertising partners a unique mix of trusted premium content along with the huge engagement and audience that the eSports scene is commanding right now.”

    The MLG partnership makes CBSi the exclusive online broadcaster of MLG Pro Circuit competitions and also makes CBSi the advertising representative for MLG. The deal with TwitchTV allows CBSi to sell advertising, promotions and sponsorships for the TwitchTV community. Also, it’s a given that CBSi will be marketing these partnerships through its flagship gaming property, GameSpot.com.

    “Major League Gaming’s live audience is growing in popularity to rival some of the most popular traditional sporting events with a highly engaged fan base worldwide,” said Sundance DiGiovanni, CEO and Co-Founder of Major League Gaming. “Leveraging the reach of CBS Interactive, we will now be able to create a premiere eSports destination for current and future fans alike, while providing some of the most powerful brands an opportunity to reach this coveted, passionate audience.”

    It’s an exciting time for eSports. With its popularity increasing and money beginning to pour into virtual sports, it will be interesting to see what companies such as MLG and CBSi make of the burgeoning industry. Still, it will be a long while before the StarCraft II championships are aired on CBS network television in primetime.

    What do you think? What will this partnership mean for MLG or eSports as a whole? Let me know in the comments section below.

  • Google And Hulu Top Video Properties In February

    U.S. Internet users watched 28.1 billion videos in February, with Google sites leading the way as the top video property wit 11.9 billion videos, accounting for 42.5 percent of all videos viewed online, according to the latest report from comScore.

    YouTube accounted for more than 99 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Hulu ranked second with 912.5 million videos, representing 3.2 percent of all online videos viewed. Microsoft sites landed in the third spot with 623 million (2.2%), trailed by Yahoo sites with 455 million (1.6%) and Turner Network with 318 million (1.1%).

    comScore-Online-Video

    More than 174 million viewers watched an average of 161 videos per viewer during the month of February. Google sites attracted 132.2 million unique viewers during the month (93.9 videos per viewer), followed by Yahoo sites with 53.5 million viewers (8.5 videos per viewer) and CBS Interactive with 45.3 million viewers (6.4 videos per viewer). The average Hulu viewer watched 23.3 videos during the month, representing another all time high for the property.

    Unique-Viewers

    In February, Tremor Media ranked as the leading video ad network with a potential reach of 81.7 million viewers, or 46.9 percent of the total video viewing audience. YuMe Video Network ranked second with a potential reach of 75.5 million viewers (43.3% penetration) followed closely by Advertising.com Video Network with 74.8 million viewers (42.9%).

    Other key findings from comScore include:

    *83.1% of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.

    *132.4 million viewers watched 11.9 billion videos on YouTube (89.5 videos per viewer).

    *The length of the average online video was 4.3 minutes.