Mediapro extends e-Sports League with Fandroid

The alliance is meant to turn the Professional Videogame League (LVP) into the reference for e-sports, expanding it through Europe and replicating the experience in Latin America.

Announced during the Barcelona Games World in Condal City, Spanish group Mediapro signed a deal with Fandroid, creators of the Professional Videogame League (LVP), with the goal to create the biggest European e-sports league.

The LVP has more than 250,000 registered players in Spain (fourth market in Europe behind the United Kingdom, Germany and France). The goal behind the alliance is to export the LVP model to other countries where Mediapro is present, such as Portugal, France, Turkey, Argentina or Colombia.

The alliance also allows the LVP have better technical resources, plan its content strategy, and streamline the sponsors and marketing divisions.

Operators such as Sky, ESPN, Fox Sports, BBC, Yahoo and Turner are already investing in live broadcasts of e-sports competitions in their platforms as a way to attract younger audiences.

The LVP has predicted audiences of over 10 million viewers this year for live broadcasts in Spain, and over 20 million for re-broadcasts, 30% more than in 2015.

Jaume Roures, leader of Mediapro, explained it's "a merger of two leading experiences in their industries, them in videogame management and us in sports rights."

"Reaching an audience of 15-30 year olds who've stepped away from traditional television and have a different relationship with content," he added, explaining the idea is to "replicate the experience in Latin America."

Fandroid was created in 2009 by six young professionals in the videogame world, and in 2011, the broadcast of the first national finals began with 100,000 viewers. In June of 2016, it reached a record of 300,000 unique users during this event.

In 2016 the e-sports market will generate around 439 million dollars, according to Newzoo. This is a 51% growth in only a year and it has already made many traditional sports clubs join the fun.

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