Esports World Cup Numbers, COPPA 2.0 Advances
These and other stories from the world of gaming and esports for the week ending Aug. 3, 2024.
The biggest story of the week isn’t Naz Aletaha leaving Riot Games, the collapse of EBET, Hearthstone returning to China, the viewership & attendance numbers coming out Esports World Cup, Oddin.gg securing a license in a U.S. state, Ludwig hosting a major gaming event, or even 100 Thieves leaning in to in its relationship with Lexus (these and other stories are below).
No, the big story of the week is that a children’s protection law (COPPA) has just been given an injection of steroids and—if those who are in the business of monetizing children and teens don’t pay close attention—could powerbomb businesses through a table.
That means if you gather kids’ data and resell it, or share it with other businesses, and if you don’t put proper protections in place, you are going to have a bad 2024 and beyond. The new bill adds some real danger—enforcement from the Federal Trade Commision—and it just passed the U.S. Senate by an overwhelming majority (and the House will likely do the same). Read on for more. - James Fudge.
📰 Top Stories 📰
COPPA 2.0 Approved by U.S. Senate
The United States Senate has overwhelmingly passed an updated version of the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (called COPPA 2.0). This is of particular importance to companies in the gaming, esports, streaming, and social media sectors, as it implements new guidelines and raises the age of protection under the law aimed at protecting American children to 16.
COPPA 2.0 will prohibit internet companies from collecting personal information from users who are 13 - 16 years old without their consent; ban targeted advertising to children and teens; revise the “actual knowledge” standard, encompassing platforms that are “reasonably likely to be used” by children and adding protections; force companies to add an “Eraser Button” for parents and kids by requiring them to permit users to eliminate personal information from a child or teen when possible; establish a “Digital Marketing Bill of Rights for Teens” that limits the collection of personal information; and create a new enforcement arm within the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) called the Youth Marketing and Privacy Division.
The bill will have to pass in the House of Representatives and eventually be signed into law by President Biden—or the next duly elected president. The bill may go through a reconciliation process, but U.S. lawmakers often find themselves at odds with social media, streaming, and gaming platforms, and most lawmakers—regardless of party—generally agree that more protections for children are needed.
Anyone in a space that caters to children and teens—whether it is getting them to play esports at school, watch content on streaming platforms, or play games like Fortnite and Roblox—would be wise to pay attention this bill.
You can read the text of the bill here.
By The Numbers: Esports World Cup Half-Time
The Esports World Cup—the eight week esports competition and gaming festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia—hit its four week mark and the organizer (Esports World Cup Foundation) of the Saudi Government-funded event released interim viewership and attendance numbers on Friday. Numbers according to the Esports World Cup Foundation:
177.5M Hours Watched throughout the first four weeks.
1M visitors to the Esports World Cup Festival in Boulevard City.
$16.5M USD in prize money distributed across nine-game championships
$450K in player MVP awards, over the first 4 weeks.
289K visitors to the competition venues
60K tickets sold—3K away from a total sellout, with 13 competitions to go
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang competition saw 2.4M councurrents.
MLBB Women’s Invitational saw 2.5M hours watched and 265K peak viewers.
Dota 2 saw 55M hours watched.
League of Legends competition recorded 53M hours watched and 3.4M peak
1B impressions on socials, 270M social video views, and 58M engagements.
While these numbers are impressive, it would be malpractice on our part to not provide some additional context, or at the very least question some of these numbers.
For starters, viewership numbers were collected by Esports Charts, which signed a partnership with the Esports World Cup in July for an undisclosed amount. Esports Charts took some heat on Friday for publishing a report noting that the Esports World Cup was the fourth-largest esports event of the year in terms of viewership. The problem with that is that the publication lumped together all of the games that have been played so far in 2024 into its tabulation, putting it against single titles such as Valorant and League of Legends. It is also not disclosing in its reporting that it is a paid partner of the Esports World Cup. Besides those caveats, we have no information to suggest that the numbers EWC provided on viewership aren’t valid, though they could contain Chinese viewership numbers in their overall tabulations.
Of interest are the 1M visitors to the Esports World Cup Festival in Boulevard City. There are no details on who these visitors are (we assume employees of brands, teams, stakeholders, partners, government officials and their families, etc. are part of these calculations). We do know some people did visit the country for the event, though we believe the majority of those tourists were from surrounding countries in the Middle East. We don’t doubt the numbers, but no details were provided on demographics. whether they were there to peruse vendor booths or actually attend events.
Another confusing aspect of the EWC announcement are to 289K visitors to venues and the 60K tickets sold, especially if 1M people visited the Esports World Cup festival over the four week period. It could be that EWC counted daily visits at venues during events to come up with the 289K number (perhaps the 60K people that bought multi-day passes) but it’s unclear from the announcement.
Finally, on video views and social media impressions, some of this has to be attributed to teams and players who are part of the Esports World Cup Club Support Program, who have been incentivized to posts on social media and create content related top Esports World Cup. While we don’t doubt the validity of the numbers, this content isn’t organic by any stretch of the imagination. Still the numbers help prove that parts of the Esports World Cup Club Support Program are working—sources tell us that the program was created in response to esports orgs not doing enough to promote Gamers8 last year or create content around it.
Overall, organizers and the Saudi government are probably happy with the results so far, and viewership was certainly on the rise thanks to having titles like League of Legends and Call of Duty included in this year’s event. Expect a full report in late August or early September with numbers for all eight weeks of the event.
Locked In: Oddin Secures Temporary Betting License in West Virginia
B2B esports betting company Oddin.gg announced this week that it has been granted a temporary sports betting license in West Virginia—the company has already secured licenses in New Jersey, Colorado, and the Canadian province of Ontario. Oddin.gg said in an announcement that it "offers services that fully comply with the state's regulatory system, which is known for its rigorous standards and comprehensive framework for sports betting."
Oddin.gg has been saying for months that it was in the process of acquiring additional licenses in the United States, so this week's news is not surprising, though it is unclear what it will have to do in order to make this one permanent. The new license allows operators to offer both online and retail betting.
Oddin.gg is a B2B provider for esports betting, focusing on supporting sportsbooks and platform providers. The company currently has partnerships with Sportradar Group, Betway, Yolo Group, Stake, OpenBet, Altenar, Betby, and many others. In recent months it signed deals with YaLLa Esports and international online bookmaker Dafabet.
Lexus, 100 Thieves Expand Partnership With New Collaborations
Lexus and 100 Thieves announced new plans that will be part of its ongoing, multi-year partnership that they claim “spans automotive, fashion, and experiential marketing.” These new collaborations will include a custom-designed, 100 Thieves branded vehicle fleet, an apparel collaboration, and a presenting sponsorship deal for 100 Thieves’ upcoming annual fan event, the Summer Block Party.
The custom fleet will include three custom-designed concept vehicles – a TX, RX, and LX – specifically tailored for 100 Thieves, with each vehicle inspired by the organization's esports teams—League of Legends, Valorant, and Call of Duty.
More information about the expanded Lexus x 100 Thieves partnership can be found here.
Ludwig Streamer Games Revealed
Popular content creator Ludwig (Ludwig Anders Ahgren) has teamed up with Red Bull for what they are calling the first-ever Ludwig’s Streamer Games, taking place live in Los Angeles from Aug. 17 - 18, at Leuzinger High School. The streamer-centric competition was created by Ludwig, Red Bull, and offbrand, according to the announcement.
These games will feature physical, sports-focused challenges in events such as track & field, the 1m + 99m Dash, Gymnastics, Tungsten Cube Toss, and more. The two-day competition will see celebrity streamers grouped into teams of four and scored based on performance and placed on a ranking to determine the overall winning team of the overall event.
Participants include Disguised Toast, LilyPichu, Valkyrae, Michael Reeves, Jasontheween, and others. Guests from FaZe Clan, 100 Thieves, OTV, Red Bull, and more will also be onsite, according to the announcement. Fans who want to attend this event can get tickets at streamergames.gg or tune into the event livestream on Ludwig’s YouTube and Mogul Moves Twitch channels, in addition to Red Bull Twitch.
More News From The Esports Advocate
Global Head of LoL Esports Naz Aletaha Announces Exit from Riot Games
Guild Esports Exploring Options, Including a Possible Sale
EBET: Another Esports Gambling Provider in Trouble
Stream Hatchet: Twitch Loses Market Share in Q2 2024
PGL Dota 2 Wallachia Season #2 Details Revealed
First Speakers Revealed for Saudi Government’s 2024 New Global Sport Conference
Gamers Lounge Teams With Riot Games for MEA
2024 PUBG Mobile Global Championship Coming to London
Hearthstone Returns to China on Sept. 25
BLAST Premier Teams With KICK for 2024
Talon Esports Partners With Certified Saudi Arabia, XP.GG
✈People on the Move ✈
Alain Tascan joins Netflix Games as its new president of gaming.
Jermaine Dupri joins the board of Global Gaming League.
Morten Holst has joins the Esports World Cup Foundation as director of games growth.
Boise State names Riley Boyd its new esports development coordinator.
Neal Coupland leaves his role as partnerships director at NEOM.
Harsha M. N. joins Ampverse to lead league operations for College Rivals.
Yves Lachance is named VP and studio head of Warner Bros. Games Montréal.
Francisco Bravo joins Voodoo as its new general manager.
🌏 News From Around the World 🌍
🤑 Call of Duty League World Championship boosts Allen, Texas, economy.
📱 Esports World Cup launches mobile apps.
✅ Northern Europe gets Valorant national leagues.
🔮 Dubai to play host to the Games of the Future 2025.
🔮 Dubai working with Indonesia to boost international trade, tourism.
🤔 Michael “shroud” Grzesiek serves as an advisor on Spectre Divide.
🤝 Team Liquid Brazil signs a deal with Visa.
🤝 Esports Charts partners with Esports Insider’s ESI Lisbon event.
🎖 NetEase mobile game Blood Strike has been downloaded 50M times.
😎 Gothic Remake revealed by THQ Nordic.
👎 Intel cuts more than 15,000 jobs.
👎 GameStop shuts down Game Informer, lays off staff.
👎 Humble Games shuts down.
👎 The board of Esportal Group AB decided to file for bankruptcy.
👎 AI is already stealing jobs in the video games industry.