Gfinity Appoints Strive To Help Realise Esports Value

Sport and entertainment marketing consultancy, Strive has added its first rightsholder to a growing roster of clients.  Strive will advise Gfinity, an AIM listed electronic sports (eSports) business that hosts leagues and events, on how to monetise the rapidly expanding global community of competitive gamers through sponsorship.

With over 226m fans regularly engaging with eSports, and growth predicted to reach 345m by the end of 2019 (source: Newzoo), Gfinity’s ambition is to become the leading promoter of eSports events globally.

Specifically,  Strive will help Gfinity refine its commercial proposition, identify value and build a comprehensive rights schedule as well as build a narrative that clearly articulates the engagement opportunities for brands to connect to the traditionally hard to reach millennial audience that eSports attracts.

Having launched the UK’s first permanent eSports Arena in (Fulham) London in early 2015, attracting over 58.5m online views of its events and a community of over 500,000 regular gamers, Gfinity offers partners a platform that can be shaped to fit their marketing objectives.

Managing Director of Strive Sponsorship, Malph Minns, said: “We believe eSports has reached a tipping point and now offers brands a new opportunity to reach a huge, and growing, highly engaged millennial fan base. eSports is the newest passion point available to sponsors to connect with audiences in a meaningful way and Strive Sponsorship is perfectly positioned to help them do that.”

CEO of Gfinity, Neville Upton, said: “Although developing at speed, eSports is still at a relatively early stage in its lifecycle. This can obviously present challenges through misconceptions, but it also offers up exciting opportunities for brands to create the future. 

“There is a lot unique to eSports, but equally there is a lot we can learn and apply from traditional sponsorship platforms like sport. Strive’s first-hand experience of helping rightsholders create value for partners whilst delivering a commercial return, is absolutely the expertise we require right now.”

Strive Sponsorship was founded and is headed up by former Team Sky Head of Partnerships Malph Minns,