Once again, Riot have delivered an unbelievable spectacle and broken records with Worlds 2022. Production quality, format, and overall viewing experience surpassed all expectations. Yet, it is their approach to co-streaming that I want to pay closer attention to, as this was one of the elements that drew significant criticism from parts of the community.
Co-streaming is nothing new, but continues to grow in scale and relevance. Ultimately, the main purpose of co-streaming is to broaden total reach and engage new audiences that might not otherwise watch the product. The more traditional approach would use endemic creators to that game, which presents a natural alignment with the product. In theory, many of these viewers are more entertainment focused, and would not engage in an esports product, so broadening the audience.
Riot took this a step further and had some of the world's most famous and influential creators co-stream. This is why the Riot approach is successful from a marketing perspective, they have been able to provide valuable experience and content to a new audience and leverage some of the largest creators globally.
So, when Riot announced their co-streaming roster, it caused much debate. This is where the clash between pure marketing objectives and community management lies. The criticism leveled at Riot is entirely valid, there are many key contributors to the League esports ecosystem that were overlooked in favour of “big personalities.”
An important part of the marketing flywheel is to integrate wider, culturally and interest relevant touchpoints to broaden League’s audience. We have seen this approach to great success, with the delivery of bespoke music, and the launch of Arcane, showcasing the expansion of IP. With co-streaming, they are able to look wider than what may be perceived as ‘relevant,’ as can be seen by their creator selection. The League of Legends franchise is so massive now, that they have intrigue from across the gaming spectrum. They are able to capitalize upon this brand by offering content distribution across these key creators.
The numbers speak for themselves, with 5.1 unique viewers, and they have undoubtedly inspired a new generation of LoL fans. Does this outweigh the criticism from the community for Riot? Probably, yes. A more balanced approach that supports core creators and enables a new audience should be the next phase. The only reason this strategy was even viable was because they are Riot, and have cultured an incredible game, esport, and community. It is credit to them that they were able to attract such significant names, and deliver another incredible event.
A final point of note is that this approach is only possible for Riot. I would not advocate brands to adopt this model. There are three pivotal reasons here:
1. Brands need to establish credibility
Particularly with any branded activity, an important element of an activation is to establish credible presence in the ecosystem. Brands must be conscious of how their efforts are perceived. As seen in this case by Riot, the community largely perceives this initiative as negative. It would be far more relevant and powerful for brands to partner with relevant creators to the game they will be activating in, even more so if these are existing creators they have longer-term relationships with.
2. Brands will struggle to engage a wide enough audience
Worlds has a huge native audience, brand activation will not. Use existing, related creators to expand your audience reach.
A common struggle of brands looking to deliver any owned content is how to best distribute. Starting and launching a new channel means there is no native audience, and thus is heavily reliant on advertising and paid promotion. Not only this, but then there is always a risk of a lack of engagement and potentially even negative reception, if the concept is deemed inauthentic.
3. Brands should be targeted with their marketing efforts, and broadening to different titles may not be effective
Ultimately, Riot’s objective was to create new League of Legends fans. A brand campaign should be targeted to a specific audience, and so expanding to a broader spectrum may undermine the effectiveness of the tactic.
This is a tactic we found particularly effective at Red Bull. For instance, in the UK, we saw a ten fold increase in viewership from hosting a regional, grassroots final on a creators channel than the main branded Twitch channel. Further still, it was also better received by the audience and players, as it was an authentic way to directly engage with their favorite creator and added a point of difference to the event. Equally, for Red Bull Home Ground - a Valorant major - we nearly doubled our viewership from co-streaming.
Co-streaming is a powerful tool, even for publishers. Riot have taken the concept to new heights with Worlds 2022 and continued to push boundaries. Worlds 2022 broke more records and a large part of this was due to the success of the co-streaming activation. The takeaway shows the value that creators hold within the gaming ecosystem and how publishers can better leverage that to drive awareness and, hopefully, a new audience. The next challenge is how to capture and sustain that audience, but ultimately that depends on the objectives and long-term approach. The point is to reflect on how important creators can be, and to engage and leverage that audience in the right way.
Comments