Mumbai: In what is said to be one of the largest media rights deals in e-sports, homegrown game streaming platform Rooter has acquired the media rights for all of Skyesports’ IP for the next one year.
As one of the biggest e-sports tournament organisers in South Asia, Skyesports conducts competitions under its self-owned IPs. Going forward, all of Skyesports’ original competitions will be broadcast exclusively on Rooter. The tournaments will be streamed in several languages which include Hindi, English, Tamil, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu.
Last year, Skyesports generated more than 200 million viewers across all its tournaments and achieved a peak concurrent viewership record of 221,000 during the Skyesports Championship 3.0 BGMI finals, said the statement.
In January, Rooter raised $25 million in its series A funding round led by Lightbox, March Gaming, and Duane Park Ventures. Last week, the company also teamed up with the dominant BGMI team, OR Esports, as its official broadcast partner.
“Skyesports is renowned for hosting some of the major esports tournaments in the country,” said Rooter co-founder and COO Dipesh Agarwal. “Teaming up with a platform redefining Indian e-sports, this comes as a landmark deal for both entities. Rooter is the fastest growing gaming platform in India and we will help Skyesports reach millions of fans who will get the best e-sports content exclusively on Rooter. We also look forward to working with Shiva and the rest of the team to provide multiple engagement opportunities for fans with e-sports teams on Rooter’s platform.”
"Our goal has always been to make Skyesports' IPs, which have been homegrown in India, more accessible,” said Skyesports founder and CEO Shiva Nandy. “I am sure that our e-sports content will feel right at home on Rooter's platform. Additionally, by distributing the media rights, we are empowering Rooter to implement strategies to further engage our already large audience. We look forward to closely working with them throughout the year to enhance the watching experience for the viewers while building e-sports from the grassroots level and launching more premium IPs.”
"With Skyesports, we envisioned the creation of a closely-knit e-sports ecosystem at the grassroots level. It’s a pleasure to have Rooter join us as a partner and we look forward to working together with them to be able to accelerate our growth in terms of viewership in India,” said JetSynthesys founder and CEO Rajan Navani.
Earlier this month, Skyesports unveiled its roadmap for 2022 with more than $530,000 in prize money up for grabs across several competitions.
