St George Bank has foundation partner of Seven's eSports platform ScreenPlay. The platform is the first major push by an Australian commercial free-to-air TV network into eSports.
St George was the first financial institution in Australia support eSports in 2016. Last week, AdNews revealed that McDonald's had secured a deal to sponsor an ESL StarCraft tournament, a sign that non-existential brands are increasingly warming the gaming community.
Seven West Media chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette says securing a foundation partner is the next stage of a long-term strategic rollout.
“ScreenPlay is already creating an authentic connection direct to the eSport and gaming community in a way never seen before in this country,” Burnette says.
“ScreenPlay creates relevant, premium content and influencers, and aggregates this into actionable data and analytics for both our advertising partners and SWM to further leverage.”
ScreenPlay will run gaming content across several digital and social media channels, including a weekly magazine style show on the 7 mate channel.
It will be fronted by former Good Game hosts Stephanie Bendixsen and Nich Richardson to cover news, reviews, live streams, gameplays, interviews, cosplay and more.
ScreenPlay provides an opportunity for Seven to become a pioneering network with eSports at a relatively early stage of development in this market.
There are an estimated 1.5 million eSports fanatics in Australia, according to 'Future of Sport', an nbnTM report says. It is estimated that 68% of Australians play some form of videos games, including on smartphones.
Testament to its popularity, more than 15,000 fans turned up to watch the inaugural Intel Extreme Masters event in Sydney in May.
For companies like St George, ScreenPlay provides them with an established media platform and safe pair of hands to help build their brand to a young, highly engaged audience.
“We’re really excited to partner with Seven and support a growing industry that Aussie families enjoy,” says Ross Miller, St George general manager for retail banking.
“St George has a long history of supporting community sports and eSports is no different. We’re proud to be the first bank in Australia to back eSports and help take it to the next level.”
ScreenPlay can be found on , Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Twitch. screenPLAY debuts on 7mate on 29 June.
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