Justin.tv launches TwitchTV: A destination site for eSports
twitchtv.com
twitchtv.com
Global Starcraft League is pretty much monthly. first place wins $80,000, second place wins $25,000, and so on
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=141...
The North American StarCraft League, funded for a minimum of 3 seasons with a $400,000 total prize pool
http://www.gosugamers.net/starcraft2/news/14686-400-000-priz...
IGN Pro League, $50,000 prize pool for each season
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=218...
Then there are MANY other tournaments, such as MLG, Blizzcon, Dreamhack, and TSL.
http://pro.majorleaguegaming.com/competitions/17#event_36_pr...
starcraft2, if anything, is a huge GLOBAL success so far as an esport.
I'm a big SC fan and have been watching the community and the money grow the last year, since SC2 got released. As they have on the frontpage, the SC2 community is huge and between TSL, MLG, GomTV, and NASL, lots of money is flowing their direction for ads and promotions. MLG Columbus took place this weekend with an estimated 110K viewers over the weekend. It's a growing market!
When people sit at home watching sports they want to see the latest game from the NHL/MBA/NBA/NFL, etc, not a stream someone's recorded in the field across from their house.
There is value being created for these individuals and JustinTV has snatched up the market by offering revenue sharing deals to get people to switch.
Just the other week, a player named TheLittleOne has 15-20k Uniques watching his stream for twenty four hours.
They are not massive audience draws like MLG, or GomTV, but for the cost of producing one could easily argue the marginal profit is higher.
Secondly, a lot of tournaments actually stream through JustinTV, like NASL. While not having the production value of the previously mentioned it has a large amount of consistent audience draw.
But when you sit at home watching Starcraft and you want to see NASL or IPL or MLG you catch it on TwitchTV. We carry (almost) all the biggest tournaments.
rolls eyes
My point is not that it's boring but rather it's an annoying comparison. I like watching Starcraft games and the Stanley Cup playoffs. For a site to tell me that one is better than the other is unnecessary.
I like HackerNews better than Digg. Does HN need the slogan: Better than Digg?
It's not really a direct comparison though, this is more of a category comparison of esports vs traditional sports. It's not like JustinTV is saying "our site is better than MLG and GOMtv combined!" I see them as promoting esports in general, which is actually very good for the gaming scene overall.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/virtua...
It'd be like my brand of iced tea having the slogan, "Better than Nestea" or if my J.Crew shirt said, "better than Target."
Like I said in another comment, I love watching the Stanley Cup playoffs and watching Starcraft games narrated by HDStarcraft. But I don't need for a company to tell me explicitly that one is better than the other, because that doesn't matter to me and it just spurs fruitless fanboyism that I detest.
More people go to A LOT of things than the Super Bowl, but that's because getting in to the Super Bowl is no easy or cheap task.
Does not compare.
I don't think any sports viewers are going to show up on TwitchTV and then cry themselves to sleep because they saw the slogan.