OverActive Media-owned MAD Lions has announced imagin as its exclusive financial sector partner. 

The partnership covers MAD Lion’s Spanish League of Legends academy roster, which competes in Superliga Orange, and will see the team collaborate with imagin on “digital sponsorship, content and marketing initiatives.”

imagin will also help teach players financial literacy, and will launch a MAD Lions-branded bank card in Spain. The partnership fits in with imagin’s recently announced expansion from offering just banking, to evolving into a platform offering financial and non-financial services, digital content and experiences. 

Discussing the news CEO of OverActive Media, Chris Overholt, said:

“We are proud to add another premium brand to our growing roster of partners. Imagin has reshaped the way Spaniards think about banking and we are excited to be working alongside their team in the coming months to bring authentic and creative collaborations to our fans.”

While CEO of imagin, Benjamí Puigdevall, added:

“Our goal at imagin has always been to evolve beyond just being a financial app. Built on the foundation as the leading bank in youth segment, we have become a community with a focus on lifestyle. Our relationship with customers is more than just a bank account and financial products, it is about the sharing of valuable content and unique experiences, and this new partnership will add to our offerings.”

🇪🇸 .@imaginersapp se convierte en el nuevo partner oficial de MAD Lions

📰 https://t.co/SVqrHSMLrp

🇬🇧 .@imaginersapp new MAD Lions official partner

📰 https://t.co/iKEYEoVtuvpic.twitter.com/NSODxkQceu#goMAD

— MAD Lions (@MADLions) June 18, 2020

AYO.NEWS says:

Financial services are increasingly realising that esports offers the perfect platform to connect with the all-important younger generations on a genuinely meaningful level. Just last month Denmark-based Astralis Group, parent organisation of Astralis, Origen, and Future FC, announced a three-year partnership with banking app Lunar. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Czech esports betting tech provider Oddin.gg has partnered with Malta-based sports betting tech company BOA Gaming.

The companies are aiming to develop a artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning powered end-to-end esports betting solution, targeted at the global gaming market. A plug and play solution, tt will provide pricing, risk management, and analytical tools for betting operators, and be integrated directly into the BOA platform.

Talking about the partnership CEO and Founder of BOA Gaming, Steve Ellis, said:

“We’ve integrated ODDIN.gg’s esports content into our unique BOA platform and together we’ve delivered a plug and play solution for Free to Play and Real Money Gaming that is 100% focused on esports and represents an ideal tool to tap into the fast-growing esports market.”

The partnership will be supported by Las Vegas-based consultancy SCCG Management, which focuses on investment and tech solutions development and platforms.  

AYO.NEWS says:

With the COVID-19 crisis making even the most traditional of bookmakers realise they need to start taking esports betting seriously, it seems BOA Gaming and Oddin.gg are likely to find a receptive market for their solution, if they can deliver what they are promising.

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

UK-based esports organisation Fnatic has announced a long-term partnership with Indian streaming platform Loco. 

The agreement is focused on content relating to Fnatic’s Indian PUBG Mobile players, and will include tournaments and various live streams. Fnatic acquired Indian PUBG Mobile team XSpark in October 2019. 

It’s not the first time Pocket Aces-owned Loco has worked with Fnatic. In April this year they teamed up to host a charity event and raise money for those affected by the COVID-19 crisis. 

Commenting on the deal Founder of Loco, Anirudh Pandita, said:

“Fnatic and Pocket Aces share a common vision of building a sustainable esports ecosystem in India. We want to provide Indian esports and gaming fans world-class gaming entertainment across formats, and this partnership will ensure that this shared vision is realized very soon. Fnatic has made a strong commitment to Indian gaming, and as the home of Indian gaming, we are delighted to welcome them!”

While India Lead at Fnatic, Nimish Raut, added:

“At Fnatic, we are dedicated to entertaining our fans through content and new formats of gaming. We believe that eSports has the potential to be the top form of entertainment in this country, and these shared thoughts make Pocket Aces and LOCO the perfect partners as we seek to level-up the content play in India.

“As a pioneer in the digital content space, Pocket Aces has a history of building entertainment channels from scratch and working with some of the best talents. We are thrilled to be working with LOCO to build the future of eSports and entertainment together.”

AYO.NEWS says:

With India now emerging as one of the worst affected countries in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it’s great to see the country’s esports scene is remaining confident, keeping people entertained, and investing in the future. 

Staying with Indian esports, earlier this week Red Bull and Loco announced a content partnership, and just yesterday sports media content platform Sportskeeda revealed it had seen a 2,000% traffic surge as it refocused on esports due to the COVID-19 crisis. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

US-based esports organisation Team Vanish has announced a partnership with audio tech brand DTS. 

The collaboration is set to last one-year and will see players at the Fortnite-focused organisation receive DTS audio products, and the Team Vanish brand promoted through global DTS events and content. 

Though DTS is no stranger to esports, and is currently holding a DTS Invitational Series tournament for VALORANT, has previously hosted streamers at its DTS Stream Studio, and is partnered with tournament operator DreamHack, the deal with Team Vanish is the first time it has directly sponsored an esports team 

Discussing the partnership Senior Director of Digital Marketing for Xperi, parent company of DTS, Sam Keene, said:

“For the last year, DTS has been hyper-focused on elevating audio in gaming, and partnering with Team Vanish is a great opportunity to continue to expand that objective. 

“Their roster of players and creators provides our engineers deeper insights into what audio changes make the biggest impact on in-game and competitive scenarios, and we’re thrilled to bring this value to our customers and ultimately consumers everywhere!”

While Co-owner of Team Vanish, RJ “Pieces” Salmon, added:

“DTS just gets it. Partnering with a company that understands not only the gaming industry, but also specifically the esports space, was hugely important to us. 

“We didn’t want to work with the first company that showed interest; it was important to us to be strategic about who we partnered with to ensure our continued growth is influenced by people we respect and can confidently collaborate with. DTS is all of that and then some. They have been amazing from the get-go, and we look forward to seeing where this partnership takes us.”

Despite only launching in 2019, Team Vanish has already started making a name for itself in Fortnite, and has recently put together a VALORANT roster. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Considering DTS’ target market, a strong presence in esports obviously makes a lot of commercial sense. It is perhaps a little surprising they picked such a new and relatively small organisation for their first team partnership – but it is a big vote of confidence for Team Vanish.

We are proud and excited to announce our partnership with @dts! pic.twitter.com/aMt7eU2H6j

— Team Vanish (@vnshgg) June 16, 2020

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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Indian sports media content platform Sportskeeda has turned the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity, by successfully pivoting to esports.

A subsidiary of Nazara Technologies Ltd, Sportskeeda traditionally focused on the cricket, football, and wrestling spaces, and has more than 25 million monthly users. But, with COVID-19 forcing the suspension of most sports, the company was hit by a 70% drop in revenue when the lockdowns were introduced in March. 

However, Sportskeeda saw an opportunity in esports, rapidly pivoted towards titles like PUBG, Free Fire, Fortnite, Valorant, GTA, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, NBA 2K, Halo, and now claims to be the number 1 esports news portal in India. 

Backing up the claim, the company says its esports vertical that was attracting 25,000 daily visitors in April, recently saw a 20x surge, rising to 5,000,000 daily visitors. 

The Sportskeeda team attributes its phenomenal success largely to ‘User – Content Mapping.’ This involved the team identifying existing content gaps, and devising a plan to fill them. The growth, which is claimed to be ‘all-organic’, has resulted in the company seeing a 2,000% increase in daily traffic, and it is aiming to double it again by July.

Reflecting on the incredible growth Founder and CEO of Sportskeeda, Porush Jain, said: 

“Quick thinking and apt decision making enabled us to harness the Esports growth opportunity successfully. Our strategic approach, innovation, and precision mingled with team-spirit is what truly fast-tracked the growth.”

While CEO of Nazara Technologies Ltd., Manish Agarwal, added:

“The young team of Sportskeeda has always kept their users in mind while designing strategies which leads to their success time and again. Nazara has always had a predominant space in Esports with subsidiaries like Nodwin. With Sportskeeda entering the Esports news space we have not only widened our horizon but also established synergy within the subsidiaries.”

According to the KPMG Report, the Indian esports industry was worth USD $818M in 2019, and it set to grow significantly. The country is already thought to have over 150M esports viewers. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Hats off to the Sportskeeda team for recognising the opportunity amid the crisis and acting so quickly to achieve truly outstanding results. As we’ve said many times here at AYO.NEWS, the Indian esports scene is one of the most promising and exciting in the world, and results like this really underline the sheer scale of the opportunity in the region. 

Staying with Indian esports, earlier this week energy drink brand Red Bull announced a partnership with streaming platform Loco, while a couple of weeks ago NODWIN Gaming revealed a partnership with telecoms company Airtel to launch a national ranking and award system. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

Curaçao-based esports betting operator Cyber.Bet has joined the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) as an anti-corruption supporter. 

Cyber.Bet currently offers esports betting in three languages and hosts esports events across Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Its partnership with ESIC will see the bookmaker provide information to help monitor and investigate possible integrity breaches. 

Discussing the news a Cyber.Bet representative said:

“Joining the Esports Integrity Commission is another big step for Cyber.Bet to become one of the most reliable and respectful esports bookmakers. For us, it is not only an honor but also a very important collaboration with such an experienced and reputable organization.

“Since we are not just a bookmaker but a part of big esports community and also tournament organizers, we are deeply interested in keeping our events and the esports industry clean from match fixing and other undesirable factors.”

While Commissioner of the Esports Integrity Commission, Ian Smith, added:

“It is an honour to welcome Cyber.bet as an Anti-Corruption Supporter of ESIC. By joining ESIC as an Anti-Corruption Supporter, Cyber.bet has displayed its commitment to playing its part in maintaining the integrity of esports.

“Cyber.bet joins a long list of Anti-Corruption Supporters who together make it easier for ESIC to investigate suspicious betting activity, assisting in our mission to fight cheating and betting fraud in the esports industry. We look forward to working with Cyber.bet to continue to protect the integrity of esports.”

ESIC is building an extensive network of partners across the esports industry, with both specialist esports-only, and traditional bookmakers joining up to help stamp out corruption. Other partners of the commission include Betway, BLAST, LOOT.BET, Midnite, Parimatch, Rivalry, Sky Bet, and Unikrn. 

AYO.NEWS says:

Well done to Cyber.Bet for joining the good fight! With esports betting seeing phenomenal growth, it is imperative that operators and bodies like ESIC work together to stamp out corruption before it gets the chance to reach the levels seen in some traditional sports, like tennis. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020