ESL, the world’s largest esports company, has officially launched the industry’s first 24/7 Counter-Strike channel. Hosted on Twitch, the stream features high quality FPS action from ESL and its partners, around the clock.
Made possible by a unique proprietary cloud-based content management system, the channel is curated by a dedicated ESL TV specialist. “The system works in such a way that we can plan scheduling weeks in advance,” said Kelly Kline, Content Manager at ESL. “However, despite scheduling, we remain very flexible: we’re looking to implement a system in which the content we show is selected by the viewing audience. It’s a very exciting project to be working on, as the customization opportunities are endless: we’re working closely with the programmers to constantly improve performance and output.”
Fully integrated into ESL’s media directory, tv.eslgaming.com, the 24/7 channel will initially support ESL ESEA Pro League’s weekly Counter-Strike: Global Offensive action, streamed on the same channel. Eventually, this software system will roll out to additional channels to include various members of the ESL Video Network, covering multiple games across many different languages.
“We have thousands and thousands of hours of ESL Counter Strike content stored away that I’m eager to share. Games and competitions from ESL’s first years as a company right up to the present day ESL ESEA Pro League – so there is a lot to choose from!” said Joe Miller, Editor in Chief at ESL, who lends his expertise to the project. “We’ve got a plan in place to mix old content with new, so hopefully there’ll be something for everyone as we continue to expand the channel.”
“Traditional TV consumption, as we’ve come to understand it, is in flux, but certainly not dead. This new 24/7 venture of ours is set to explore and learn from the evolution underway in TV viewership and audience flows,” said Han Park, President of ESL America, who oversees the project. “Our soft-launch reached concurrent viewership numbers of over 15,000 on multiple occasions, which tells us that there is definitely demand for this type of content, and we look forward to expanding on it in future.”
For more information regarding the 24/7 Counter-Strike channel, please visit Twitch.tv/ESL_CSGO or check for ESL TV scheduling on tv.eslgaming.com.