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Coca-Cola uncaps esports? marketing potential with mobile-driven content sponsorship

Coca-Cola is sponsoring a new weekly digital program covering competitive gaming through a partnership with media company IGN, whose viewers spend 60 percent of their time on mobile. 

The strategy is an example of how big brands such as Coca-Cola are increasingly looking to sponsor content that is reaching consumers where they are spending much of their ? on their smartphones. The new program, Esports Weekly with Coca-Cola will bring new, in-depth coverage to esports, a quickly growing area of entertainment. 

?Today, 100 percent of IGN users are on mobile 60 percent of the time,? said Peer Schneider, co-founder and general manager at IGN. ?What used to be our second screen has quickly become our first ? so much of the content we create is optimized for mobile viewing. 

?Just like on the desktop Web, there are different mobile viewing patterns,? he said. ?In addition to our full-length show, we will create custom highlights and additional topical programming targeted at those who may not have the time to watch a full show when they discover it. 

?On our native mobile apps, we also offer the ability to ?save for later,? which lets users queue content they want to watch. Our next step is to make this feature truly multiplatform, so you can watch for a few minutes on the go, then continue to watch the whole show at home on a completely different device.?

Online gaming news
The Esports Weekly with Coca-Cola is a jointly created online video series that will air weekly starting today at 7 pm ET on IGN.com, which has 66 million monthly viewers. The 30-minute show will recap the week?s headlines from esports around the world. 

The program will be broadcast across IGN?s channels on the Web, mobile devices, video game consoles and over-the-top streaming platforms. 


Reaching the mainstream
While esports is quickly growing, it has operated on the sidelines of culture and marketing for years. However, the partnership with a big-name brand such as Coca-Cola suggests that this is starting to change. 

The growing importance of esports is backed up by new research from market research firm Electronic Entertainment Design and Research.

EEDAR?s research shows that esports draws more than 15 million viewers who are in their mid-20s, a highly coveted age group for marketers. 

Per EEDAR, brands such as Red Bull, Monster are targeting this group. 

Coca-Cola is the largest non-endemic brand in esports, per IGN.

?It?s only natural that leading brands are taking note and are following the viewers,? Mr. Schneider said. ?And a company like IGN makes it easy to target users across a variety of platforms. 

?Our shows are not just broadcast on the Web, but on mobile and tablet devices, fast-growing content platforms like Snapchat Discover, video game consoles, and connected media players like Fire TV and Roku,? he said. 

?In the case of Esports Weekly with Coca-Cola, we jointly tapped into a topic that is near and dear to our companies. Coke has made it its mission to elevate and celebrate gaming at large, while we have long looked for the right partner to bring esports content to our screens in a big way.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York