STOCKHOLM/COLOGNE — DreamHack, the premier gaming lifestyle festival, and ESL, the world’s largest esports company, today announced a three-year deal with Twitch, the leading service and community for multiplayer entertainment. The agreement will see some of the biggest esports tournaments organized by ESL and DreamHack live streamed to the service exclusively on Twitch in 2021 and 2022*.
The deal announcement confirms Twitch as the global digital media partner of major ESL and DreamHack competitions on a non-exclusive basis in 2020, before acquiring exclusivity of English language digital live streaming of major events in 2021 and 2022. As part of the deal, all tournaments streamed in English within ESL Pro Tour for CS:GO and StarCraft II & Warcraft III, including the ESL Pro League, ESL One, Intel® Extreme Masters, DreamHack Masters, DreamHack Open, ESL National Championships, will be exclusively on Twitch in 2021 and 2022.
“ESL and Twitch have been key players in the history of esports as we know it,” said Benjamin Vallat, SVP of Alliances and Corporate Development at Twitch. “The continuation of our partnership will strengthen not only the content offerings for fans, but also the greater esports community that ESL, Dreamhack, and Twitch have cultivated over the years.”
As part of the partnership, Twitch will become a centralised hub for streaming ESL and DreamHack competitions. The company will work directly with ESL and DreamHack to coordinate broadcast integrations and maximise sponsorships of some of the biggest esports tournaments going forward.
Frank Uddo, Senior Vice President, Global Media at ESL, said, “Live-streaming esports has belonged to Twitch in recent years. As we continue to host some of the world’s largest esports tournaments, it feels only natural to work even closer with Twitch to provide the best gaming experience for fans, as well as safeguard the future of the esports industry.”
Roger Lodewick, Co-CEO of DreamHack commented: “This partnership is a milestone for DreamHack, both as a company and community. Our cooperation with Twitch dates back to 2009 when it was still Justin.tv — this new collective media partnership is re-confirming our long-standing collaboration and highlights the importance and relevance Twitch has to our community, as well as the value the ESL/DreamHack esports content brings to the global Twitch audience.”
* Some exceptions apply with regard to certain areas of the world and the digital platforms of linear television broadcast partners.
