ESports are about to have a new home in New Zealand with the launch of a pop-up eSports channel on Sky. We speak to Sky TV director of strategy, George MacFarlane, about the rise of eSports, an how the new channel is set to build greater knowledge about the sport.
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Globally, eSports is surprisingly big (at least to non-gamers). And, with news that a local tournament is set to come to a Sky TV pop-up channel, it’s starting to gain traction in New Zealand. At this stage, MyRepublic has put its name on the hoardings, but sponsors are few and far between for the local event and it’s not clear if Sky will sell advertising around it. But due to the growing popularity of eSports among the hard to reach younger (and predominantly male) demographics, it is starting to attract interest from major brands, including Snickers, which recently punked thousands of people on the gaming platform Twitch.tv.
A longtime staple of Korean television, eSports is set to hit Kiwi television sets with Sky announcing that launch of a pop-up channel on 19 December to screen the inaugural My Republic NZGC eSports Tournament live.