ELeague signed a multiyear deal making Amazon-owned Twitch its exclusive third-party distributor, marking the third major exclusive media rights deal struck by an esports property this month. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Beginning with ELeague Major: Boston this weekend, Twitch will be the only place other than Turner Sports or ELeague.com where viewers can see live action. In the past, some ELeague action had also been shown on Twitter and YouTube. Until very recently, esports leaders preferred to distribute competition action through a variety of streaming sites, believing that expanding reach was the top priority. However, in the last month, Overwatch League (on Twitch everywhere but China), ESL (on Facebook for English/Portuguese streams) and now ELeague (Twitch) have signed deals that limit competition. Riot Games also has an exclusive development deal with BAMTech, but that has been described as exclusively for sales and tech development. Separately, ELeague on Wednesday also announced it has renewed two sponsors -- Dell/Alienware gaming PCs and HyperX headphones. This year will be the third for the HyperX-ELeague partnership, while Dell/Alienware is in the second year of a tie-up.
OWL VIEWERSHIP DROPS: THE ESPORTS OBSERVER's Graham Ashton reported average viewership for Overwatch League, "aggregated across main, French, and Korean Twitch channels," dropped from 109,400 average concurrent viewers in week one to 75,300 in week two. In comparison, the first week of NA LCS matches in '17 had an average CCV of 90,100. It is "worth noting" that '17 NA LCS matches "ran for three days a week last year," while OWL plays over four. OWL viewership across week two "stayed comparatively steady compared to week one, with smaller peaks across individual matches." It is "no surprise that the Overwatch League would see a drop in viewership after its debut week." Not only "has the hype worn off," but there is "concern that watching Overwatch esports is difficult for non-players to spectate," and audience members with "less knowledge of the game were not likely to return week after week." Nevertheless, viewership during week two "was far more stable" (THE ESPORTS OBSERVER, 1/23).
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