Over 30m people have watched Gfinity’s London eSports events
London-based eSports firm Gfinity today told investors it generated more than 30m online views from the first half of its 2015 championship series, which have been broadcast in 10 languages to 25 countries around the world.
Shares in Gfinity were down by over two per cent on Friday afternoon, even after the rapidly rising eSports firm revealed it was on course to exceed its target of 50m views for the 2015 season.
The Aim-listed company also announced that Jon Varney, a founding partner of sports marketing giant Pitch International and former director of Premiership Rugby, has joined as a non-executive director.
Since March, Gfinity has hosted weekly eSports events and handed out over £120,000 in prize money to the best players at Fifa, Call of Duty, Starcraft and other games.
Chief executive Neville Upton has placed an emphasis on building the company's reputation amongst eSports fans and potential sponsors alike by hosting professional and well-produced events.
In a statement today he said:
We have delivered excellent levels of viewership in the first half of our first season as an Aim company. It means we are now on track to beat the viewership target we set ourselves for the 2015 season.
The progress made thus far reflects both the rapid growth in popularity of eSports and our ability to deliver compelling eSports events and content sought-after by a young, global audience, which is otherwise difficult to reach by advertisers and consumer brands.
Although Gfinity's events are not yet ranked as the most prestigious tournaments in eSports, they attract some of the biggest teams in the world such as Fnatic and Ninjas in Pyjamas to its eSports arena – the first of its kind in the UK.
And, crucially for shareholders, companies have begun to recognise the mass appeal of professional gaming. In April, Gfinity signed its first major sponsorship deal with News International.
Varney, who owns a five per cent stake in the firm, will "bring exceptional experience and insight of the commercial rights and broadcast markets from conventional sports" said Upton.