Following on from success live streaming sports like the NFL and NBA, Twitter has today announced they’re moving to e-Sports starting with live-streaming this weekends League of Legends: League of Origin esports tournament.
The announcement is part of a deal with Sports tournament organiser Riot Games Oceania which will stream 16 hours of live programming featuring teams from New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland and Victoria across June 3rd and 4th.
Twitter is also adding in custom emoji which will be inserted when users add one of five hashtags – #LoLOrigin, #NSWWIN, #NZWIN, #QLDWIN and #VICWIN.
Olly Wilton, Head of Sports at Twitter Australia said of the decision to go with e-Sports:
Esports is growing at a rapid pace in Australia and globally, and this partnership is a great way to tap into the engaged audience of gamers that are already using Twitter as a primary source of content. By partnering with leading esports competitions like League of Origin, we look forward to bringing the best of esports live video and conversation together on Twitter.
The tournament begins on Saturday, with the live streams to be available globally at Leagueoflegends.twitter.com.
