Australian company Seven West Media Limited has announced a new partnership with St George Bank for a new multi-platform esports league called ScreenPLAY.

ScreenPLAY is Seven West Media’s brand new “social, mobile-first brand” focused on all things Australian and overseas esports, including the games themselves, professional tournaments, interviews with the players, gaming news and live streams. It integrates multiple social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitch and YouTube along with Seven Network’s 7Mate to reach audiences far beyond the traditional broadcast-only television show format.

ScreenPLAY has significant local Australian gaming talent involved, including former hosts of ABC’s Good Game, Stephanie Bendixsen and Nich Richardson.

Seven chief digital officer Clive Dickens said they hope to give competitive video gaming more significant promotion in Australia via the ScreenPLAY league and multi-channel approach, and to become a platform for local esport talent to springboard off into the international tournament circuit – as well as a slice of the very profitable esports pie currently taking the world by storm.

“We need to have this sustainable approach to this total video strategy – esports is the next big cab off the rank,” Mr Dickens said. “We are aware that the target audience for esports, therefore ScreenPlay, do not come to broadcast for their first point of contact.”

“screenPLAY is already creating an authentic connection direct to the esport and gaming community in a way never seen before in this country. screenPLAY creates relevant, premium content and influencers, and aggregates this into actionable data and analytics for both our advertising partners and Seven West Media to further leverage,” Seven’s Chief Revenue Officer Kurt Burnette said.

St George Bank is the first bank in the country to sponsor esports, and they currently have a long-running 10 per cent cashback offer on online gaming related purchases.

“We found St George customers alone are doing over 50,000 transactions on video game payments every month,” general manager Ross Miller said. “From our data, that’s greater than Spotify, iTunes and Ticketmaster.”

“We’re really excited to partner with Seven and support a growing industry that Aussie families enjoy. 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.”

Seven executives said more information will be released in the coming weeks, but so far it has been confirmed ScreenPLAY will launch with two of the most popular video games currently making waves in the booming global esports market, projected to exceed $1 billion this year and over $1.23 billion (USD) in 2019 according to Superdata.

While Seven West Media is currently tight-lipped on the first ever esports games they will broadcast on ScreenPLAY, we’ll take an easy guess and say it will probably be Call of Duty, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Halo, Hearthstone, League of Legends, Overwatch or Rocket League.

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“It’s eSports. Yes, they are sports” is the tagline for a new Australian multi-channel dedicated to professional video gaming.

Last week, Australia’s Seven West Media unveiled their brand new “social, mobile-first brand” known as ScreenPLAY via a live stream on Facebook.

The new show integrates Facebook, YouTube and Twitch – implying it will not be a traditional broadcast-only show – and will focus on the billion-dollar industry, eSports.

The two hosts Stephanie Bendixsen and Nich Richardson –?ABC’s former Good Game presenters – will review eSports events and also cover the latest news, live streams and games, while also integrating interviews and tournament rundowns.

Their first Facebook live stream took place last Thursday, which has since been uploaded to their YouTube channel. The 47-minute video has received over 3000 views and is described by Richardson as a “verbal press release” in the first few minutes.

They provide a rundown on what to expect from the show and explain the digital platforms will host weekday content.

The show also keeps it interactive via the hashtag #screenplayau.

“The digital stuff is going to get super nerdy,” Richardson explains later on in the video.

“We might do a patch note read,” Bendixsen suggests.

“A seven-hour Dota 2 patch note read,” Richardson quips.

After a short preview of an event expected to be covered on ScreenPLAY in the coming weeks, Bendixsen reveals they will also take a look at Australian and international eSports and speak with teams from all around the world, recount tournaments and more.

Then the pair goes on to play and review PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

More content has been uploaded to their YouTube channel and shared on their Facebook page since the launch, including content covering the E3 press conference.

While it has not been added to the website schedule yet, ScreenPLAY will also be aired weekly on 7Mate from June 29. It will be broadcast on free-to-air TV on Thursday nights and then the content will also be added to the digital platforms the following day.

Media reports have revealed Seven will announce several commercial partners for ScreenPLAY this week, which will likely target males in their teens to mid-30s – though recent research has revealed more and more females are becoming interested in eSports.

Seven chief digital officer, Clive Dickens, revealed to AdNews the network chose to tap into the digital market due to the connection to eSports.

“eSports audiences are not your typical linear TV consumers and brands who want to reach them are utilising incremental budgets to go and find them because they are attractive young adults,” Dickens says.”

eSports is expected to explode in Australia, with a huge turnout at the Intel Extreme Masters in Sydney a few weeks ago supporting the claim. More than 10,000 budding gamers showed up to watch the event, with the German team, SK Gaming, taking home first place and pocketing $100,000.

“We are at the beginning of what’s going to be one of the most exciting decades of the professionalism of eSports in this country,” Dickens added.

It is not just set to explode in Australia, but all around the world. It is being suggested eSports will be trialled in the Olympics either in 2024 or 2028.

Professional sporting leagues are also taking an interest in professional video gaming with the Australian Football League (AFL) encouraging teams to sponsor eSports teams.

Seven West Media has made a bold move in creating a multi-channel platform dedicated to eSports, but given its expected prosperity, it is likely to pay off.

It will also help eSports popularity grow Down Under and we are incredibly excited for what is to come.

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