Esports Charts Partners With Esports World Cup

Esports Charts partners with the Esports World Cup

Viewership analytics platform Esports Charts announced Thursday that it has partnered with the Saudi Arabian government-funded Esports World Cup for 2024.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Under the terms of this new partnership, Esports Charts will provide “comprehensive viewership insights for the EWC 2024, the largest global esports event taking place this summer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,” according to a release.

“Our collaboration with the Esports World Cup is a testament to the growing importance of data-driven insights in esports,” said Artyom Odintsov, co-founder and CEO of Esports Charts. “By providing detailed viewership analytics, we aim to enable EWC organizers to make informed decisions and enhance the overall experience, ensuring the event’s success and growth.”

Esports Charts gathers viewership data from more than 20 international platforms, including Twitch, YouTube, Kick, TikTok, Twitter, and many platforms specific to markets in India, Asia, and MENA.

Named Esports Coverage Platform of the Year by the Esports Awards in 2023, and a nominee for Esports Coverage Platform of the Year for 2024, Esports Charts not only collects and disseminates viewership data; it also provides news coverage on companies, events, and organizations in the space. The Esports Advocate reached out to Esports Charts prior to the publication for details on how it plans to avoid perceived conflicts of interest while providing fair and unbiased coverage of the Esports World Cup.

The Esports World Cup is a multi-week, multi-discipline esports competition running from July 3 – Aug. 25, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, funded by a grant from the Saudi Arabian government, while competitions are being facilitated by ESL FACEIT Group, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Savvy Games Group. Savvy is owned by the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund and its Chairman of the board is Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler HRH Crown Prince MBS. EFG is home to tournament organizer ESL, Esports Engine, competition platform FACEIT, and esports and gaming festival company DreamHack.

The event features an overall prize pool of $60M USD, and competitions in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex Legends, Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, EA Sports FC 24, Fortnite, Free Fire, Honor of Kings, League of Legends, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Overwatch 2, PUBG Battlegrounds, PUBG Mobile, ESL R1, Rocket League, StarCraft II, Street Fighter 6, Teamfight Tactics, TEKKEN 8, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Siege.

On Thursday morning we emailed Esports Charts a few questions about this new deal with Esports World Cup, and we received a response this afternoon from Artyom Odintsov, co-founder and CEO of Esports Charts. The questions and answers can be found below:

Question: Are you concerned that this deal might give the perception of a conflict of interest in all of the EWC coverage going forward on EC?

Answer:  First of all, Esports Charts is an independent analytics company. Our media team is also absolutely autonomous, with no influence from any third-party company, including our customers and partners.

Our collaboration with EWC is about us supplying data. We provide a detailed analysis of the EWC broadcast audience for internal use, and media activities are not part of the agreement. Understandably, EWC holds significance within the esports industry, and as a trusted authority on esports data, Esports Charts naturally covers this important event.

Question: Will EC be providing disclosure language on all of its reporting/reports?

Answer: No, since, as I clarified in the previous question, our media resource is not part of our partnership with EWC. Even when we engage our media in collaborations with other clients, the facts and numbers we use are never altered because of the partnerships we have.

Question: How can we be sure that viewership numbers won’t be skewed in a positive light due to this new financial entanglement?

Answer: Under our agreement, EWC receives detailed viewership statistics. But it’s important to emphasize that we also maintain longstanding partnerships with game publishers, including PUBG Mobile, Ubisoft, KRAFTON, and many others, some of which also work with EWC. Our agreements with clients ensure consistent and uniform data across all parties, which can be verified by requesting this information from them.

Furthermore, our freemium model offers some metrics for free, allowing users to cross-check data on our live pages with streaming platforms. Anyone with paid access to the tournament on our dashboard can see detailed analytics and statistics and compare them with other sources.