eSports
Esports Powerhouse ReKTGlobal Acquires Digital Media Agency Fearless Media
ReKTGlobal, the global esports business authority and parent company of professional esports organizations Rogue and the London Royal Ravens, announces its acquisition of New York-based Fearless Media, a full service data driven media agency specializing in entertainment, gaming, consumer electronics and technology verticals with a dynamic approach to modern marketing. Fearless Media is known for creating integrated global advertising campaigns in collaboration with some of the world’s biggest consumer companies such as PSYONIX, Valve, Turtle Beach, Bethesda, Epic Games, THQ Nordic, Redbox, GuitarWorld and LessonFace.
Founded in 2009 by Cara Scharf, Fearless Media is focused on elevating brands through its unique approach to marketing analytics and insights to develop marketing strategies and execute campaigns that drive revenue and help clients understand holistically how their media dollars are performing. In recent years, Scharf was awarded Acquisitions International’s Most Innovative Marketing Business Leader in 2019, Creative Women in Marketing by Aspioneer in 2019 and Top NY Women in Business by Oprah Magazine & Entrepreneur in 2018. Fearless Media was also named as one of Clutch’s Top New York Marketing & Advertising Agencies in the U.S. in 2018.
To further solidify relationships across all verticals, the deal will bring together Fearless Media’s extensive media network, brand partners and marketing experts, to add another layer to ReKTGlobal’s growing marketing division, making it a complete solution for brands.
“ReKTGlobal’s acquisition of Fearless Media is unlike any other in the esports industry,” said Dave Bialek, CEO of ReKTGlobal. “It allows us to fully support the growing demand for advertising and marketing solutions to the gaming and esports community, as we continue to build our industry leading esports marketing portfolio.”
Cara Scharf, Founder of Fearless Media added, “We pride ourselves on bringing next level digital marketing solutions to our clients across a multitude of industries,” said Cara Scharf, Founder of Fearless Media. “Now through ReKTGlobal, we have the opportunity for cross-pollination across all of our amazing brand partners.”
“We’re excited to welcome Fearless Media to the ReKTGlobal network,” commented John Benyamine, CEO and Co-Founder of Greenlit Content. “With the backing of ReKTGlobal, we have continued to grow our esports audience, and with Fearless Media coming aboard, we’ll have the ability to connect with an even wider audience to drive integrated marketing solutions across social and traditional media on a global level.”
The acquisition of Fearless Media comes on the heels of ReKTGlobal’s partnership with creator management phenom, TalentX Entertainment, to launch a new joint venture TalentX Gaming (TXG) this past May. Coupled with ReKTGlobal’s position as a global esports leader that bridges the gap between the multi-billion-dollar esports industry and the worlds of music, entertainment and traditional sports, TXG leverages the “creator first” talent development and social media monetization prowess of TalentX. TalentX took the influencer management industry by storm by growing a roster of the top one percent of TikTokkers in just six months, including members of the company’s recently created Sway House — Josh Richards, Griffin Johnson, Anthony Reeves, Bryce Hall, Kio Cyr and Jaden Hossler — which racked up one million followers on their group TikTok account in the first month.
Last year, ReKTGlobal acquired New Jersey-based Greenlit Content, a hybrid company that is behind some of gaming’s most popular sites including TwinGalaxies.com, Shacknews.com, GameDaily.Biz and PrimaGames.com. Greenlit creates viral branded gaming content, events and activations in collaboration with some of the world’s most popular consumer companies such as Xbox, HyperX, Chips Ahoy!, Warner Bros., NBC Sports, State Farm, Turtle Beach and Redbox. The company reaches up to 100 million gamers monthly through specially curated video, social and editorial content. Combined, the monumental merger’s assets include 8 esports teams, 36 influencers, celebrity talent including music legends Tainy, Steve Aoki and Imagine Dragons, and 30+ client brand partners.
eSports
CAPCOM’S STREET FIGHTERTM 6 GOING TO COLLEGE THIS FALL
- CSMG will create and operate College Street FighterTM Tour in North America for the 2024-25 academic year
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eSports
R&D rethink needed for sportsbooks to harness esports’ power
Esports betting is still grappling with a perception problem amongst operators. Despite the leaps and bounds in product development made by suppliers – particularly in the last two years – esports hasn’t shaken off the image built in the late 2010s.
Our good friend, Oliver Niner, Head of Sales at PandaScore, has been kind to share the below article with us.
There’s scepticism around esports betting’s value, how well it can actually perform and what’s needed to make it appeal to bettors. A big part of that comes down to perception, which shapes the research and development (R&D) choices made by each operator.
Self-fulfilling prophecy?
Operators who have put the research and development (R&D) resources into esports are seeing excellent growth, while others are still treating it like part of a long tail. The lack of a uniform approach to esports often translates into hesitancy to be bullish and invest in esports.
Whereas in the United States, post-PASPA sports betting has exploded and operators are seeking to capture as much territory and market share as possible because in most cases, you switch the lights on and the money comes in. It’s, of course, good business sense to take opportunities like this – you can apply the same templates used elsewhere on an incredibly lucrative market.
This kind of approach has been attempted for esports and hasn’t found the same success. Granted, the legislation for betting on esports has been somewhat slower than that of sports betting and iGaming.
However, bullish operators have acknowledged the fact that esports hasn’t found the same success in regulated states and asked what can be done differently, while for others, esports has been thrown into the too-hard basket or relegated to the bargain bucket.
For the latter, the fate of the esports vertical becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy – especially if an operator already using a budget esports product that throttles its very growth.
It takes two to tango
When esports is discussed in broader betting circles, you’ll often hear different versions of the same talking point: the problem with esports is no one is doing it well, it doesn’t innovate.
This argument is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Esports is a driver of innovation, and it is sportsbook R&D that is holding it back.
Multiple suppliers on the market are investing significant resources into R&D, and bullish operators are leveraging these product innovations to acquire new customers and create engagements made for the internet age.
There are understandable reasons why sports betting doesn’t innovate. It’s largely because operators focus on acquisition, entering new territories and spending money on data rights. But the actual R&D on sportsbook products is left lacking, with ever-increasing cost-per-acquisition (CPA) numbers a clear symptom of this.
It means that if an operator does decide to use or acquire an esports specialist supplier but does little to cater its product and attempts to just lay the sports betting template over the top, of course performance will be throttled.
It’s like putting a Ferrari engine in a Prius – no offence to Toyota or Prius owners.
The same problem exists on the platform supplier front. Platforms are understandably focused on compliance and getting customers live, not necessarily improving models or their products.
Even the idea that if you just acquire an innovative company the problem is solved or you have found the solution, doesn’t hold water. In many cases, the company is acquired and plenty of noise is made about it, but there’s little organisational investment in R&D afterwards.
It’s not just in esports
These problems extend to customer acquisition and marketing for most emerging markets, not just esports. There’s a rush to use the same old playbook in newer sectors because it’s easy.
The fantasy vs. house sector in the US is already experiencing an acquisition arms race. As analyst Dustin Gouker points out, deposit match bonuses for new users on fantasy vs house products have jumped from $100 to as high as $500 in some places.
This is the same race that played out in sports betting and despite the costs, there’s little effort from most operators to try something different. There’s less work when you just put the same acquisition template on an emerging sector and call it a day. This seems to be an accepted practice in the industry, for better or for worse.
Esports betting success requires ongoing dialogue
Rather than attempting to wedge esports into hegemonic sportsbook approaches, sportsbooks need to take a completely unique approach.
The fact is the betting sector has barely scratched the surface – communities of esports fans are still dormant. Canadian operator Rivalry has built a successful, esports-first business by embracing the ever-changing internet culture that esports inhabits. French esports organisation Karmine Corp recently sold out a 30,000-person stadium for an event with no prize money up for grabs.
Innovative products developed on the supplier side like microbetting and betbuilders are only half of the equation.
Maximising esports revenues requires institutional investment, ongoing R&D and collaboration between suppliers and operators to create products and experiences. This includes having staff on the operator side that can drive and push the product further, and crucially, rethinking current sportsbook strategies and practices.
Building experiences for betting’s greatest emerging market – one that caters to your future core audience – takes investment, innovation and a willingness to experiment. If the industry wants to make the most of the Millennial and Gen Z audience that will become its primary customers, investment into R&D and close collaboration between suppliers and operators is needed. Many hands makes light work.
eSports
North Star Network Acquires Um Dois Esportes
North Star Network has acquired Um Dois Esportes, a sports coverage and analysis site created from the merger of Gazeta Do Povo and Tribuna do Paraná in 2020.
Julien Josset, co-founder of North Star Network, said: “Thank you to the team at GRPCOM for their faith in us to take the brand forward. Um Dois Esportes is an established and renowned site in Paraná State, and we’re excited about the challenge of developing this asset.
“We’re happy to maintain the collaboration with the existing editorial team, and look forward to working with them, bringing our unique NSN approach, to take UDE forward.”
NSN’s signing of Um Dois Esportes is the media house’s fourth acquisition of 2024, following the recent deals to purchase UK-based SportsMole and MrFixitsTips, as well as Chilean site AlAireLibre, which was announced in March.
The latest addition to the North Star media portfolio joins existing assets including Top Mercato, Afrik-Foot, and Vringe. The Paris-based company already oversees a significant Brazilian operation, delivering over 6 million sessions per month, from the likes of Trivela, Premier League Brasil and Lakers Brasil.
NSN will retain Curitiba-based journalists from the Um Dois Esportes legacy team to maintain the asset’s unique tone and popular coverage of the Paraná sports scene across site and social.
Rafael Mello, Director of GRPCOM, said: “We were surprised by the interest, and initially had no intention of selling Um Dois, but as the conversations evolved, we realised this was a serious group with good intentions. We were very happy to see our project being valued by a large international group and going global, demonstrating the quality of the content we produced.
“We’re also proud that North Star inherited our journalists, who are truly responsible for the success of the product we offer readers every day.”
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