Fantasy Football Talk

[EZ2]

Facebook bets on professional sports gamers in bid to boost video views

MARKETWATCH 8:06 AM ET 5/18/2017
Symbol Last Price Change
FB 146.86 +2.01 (+1.39%)
QUOTES AS OF 10:33:09 AM ET 05/18/2017
By Sarah E. Needleman and Deepa Seetharaman

Facebook (FB) is expected to announce a deal with ESL, a global organizer of esports contests, to broadcast matches

Facebook Inc. (FB) is paying professional videogame teams and others in the esports industry to post videos on the social network, part of a shift in strategy to deliver more-polished programming to the company's nearly two billion monthly users.

Earlier this year, Facebook(FB) signed contracts with five teams to publish live and on-demand video of players practicing or competing at esports (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/esports-take-a-page-from-nfls-playbook-2016-04-06). In addition, Facebook(FB) on Thursday is expected to announce a deal with ESL, a global organizer of esports contests, to broadcast matches, player interviews and more.

Under the deals, esports partners must produce a minimum number of hours of video for the social network, and in most cases the partners are allowed to simultaneously publish to rival platforms such as Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) Twitch. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Facebook's (FB) interest in beefing up TV-like programming from science, lifestyle and other genres comes as many publishers are seeing lackluster viewership for their live videos on the platform. Facebook(FB) is also grappling with how to censor violent moments and other dark content streamed live to the site.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com (https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-embraces-esports-in-its- video-strategy-shift-1495099801?mod=mktw).

Popular on WSJ.com:

Riot police on Venezuela's front lines seek a way out (https://www.wsj.com/articles/riot-police-on-venezuelas-front- lines-seek-a-way-out-1495013403?mod=mktw)

Russian state-run bank financed deal involving Trump hotel partner (https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-state-run- bank-financed-deal-involving-trump-hotel-partner-1495031708?mod=mktw)

-Sarah E. Needleman; 415-439-6400; [e-mail]


(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-18-170806ET
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.