Twenty First Century Media, among India’s leading sports marketing and management company for over three decades, has announced expansion into eSports with the launch of a full service esports marketing division – TCM eSports.
A major announcement in the TCM business expansion was on the cards ever since former Star Sports Senior Vice-President Basant Dhawan had joined the company as the Chief Executive Officer.
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“As people continue to practice social distancing and stay home amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile gaming has become a preferred pastime for not just entertainment but also social connection. There is widening of the digital media landscape and the rise in popularity of mobile gaming, esports, influencer-marketing, digital videos provide huge digital audiences. With the launch of our TCM eSports division, we want to create engagement opportunities for brands & publishers with this audience”, says Lokesh Sharma, Managing Director, TCM.
“As per global data measurement agency Nielsen, gaming in India has grown by 24% in June versus pre lockdown period. The vast majority of esports fans do not watch TV and they represent the youngest audience in all of sports. The average weekly time spent for gaming in India stands at a whopping 3 hours and 7 minutes. This creates a great opportunity for brands that want to reach, engage and create a sustainable relationship with an otherwise hard to reach audience and for sports properties which want to groom and engage the next generation of their fans,” adds Dhawan.
Whether it’s any of the established domestic leagues in India or an incipient sports property, eSports will become a major fan engagement tool for traditional sports to reach and engage this young, digitally savvy consumer.
The company also confirmed that the TCM eSports has been appointed as the knowledge partner for the upcoming Financial Express – India Gaming Summit presented by Google and co-presented by Paytm First Games. The virtual conference is scheduled from 28th to 30th July, 2020.
TCM eSports will work on both sides of the eSports industry by connecting brands with esports organizations, while also working with game publishers and third-party tournaments to create, distribute and monetise the esports content.”
TCM holds exclusive ground rights across various cricket stadia in India and globally. Outside India, TCM holds the exclusive Naming, Sponsorship, In stadia rights across New Zealand Cricket, Cricket West Indies & Asia Cup tournaments (Asian Cricket Council).Besides this, TCM has on-ground partnerships with the cricket boards of South Africa, Bangladesh, England and Australia.