{"id":100185,"date":"2017-02-23T17:00:47","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T22:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breaking911.com\/?p=100185"},"modified":"2017-02-23T14:05:25","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T19:05:25","slug":"univision-starts-new-website-run-former-gawker-editors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breaking911.com\/univision-starts-new-website-run-former-gawker-editors\/","title":{"rendered":"Univision starts new website run by former Gawker editors"},"content":{"rendered":"
Univision’s Fusion Media Group introduced a website dedicated to covering e-sports, its first new media property since buying bankrupt Gawker Media last year.<\/p>\n
Editors of the sports website Deadspin and gaming-themed Kotaku will run the new publication, called Compete, starting with two full-time writers who will cover the news and culture of competitive video-gaming. Gillette, the razor maker owned by Procter & Gamble Co., will be the sole advertiser for the first six months.<\/p>\n
Univision Holdings, owner of Fusion Media Group, will attempt to make money from branded content, or advertising that resembles articles, and live events, including possibly hosting its own video-game tournament. While Univision is best known for its Spanish-language broadcast network, Fusion has been its attempt to reach a younger, more diverse audience, and most of its outlets write and produce video in English. New York-based Univision, owned by Grupo Televisa and a collection of private equity investors, has been planning an initial public offering.<\/p>\n
Univision’s new website marks the latest attempt by media companies and sports leagues to capitalize on the growing popularity of e-sports, where video-game experts compete in tournaments for thousands of dollars in prize money. Market research firm Newzoo estimates that competitive video gaming will be a $1 billion industry by 2019.<\/p>\n
ESPN launched its own website last year to cover e-sports. The NBA is creating a new division for players who excel at video-game basketball. Turner Broadcasting and WME IMG, the talent agency and media company, created a competitive video-gaming league last year to attract new viewers — mostly young men — who have become elusive for networks and advertisers because they don’t watch traditional TV.<\/p>\n
Deadspin Editor-in-Chief Tim Marchman said he envisions Compete covering both lighter fare, like whether video gamers sweat a lot while playing, and more serious topics, like “the corrupting power of television money.”<\/p>\n
Early articles on Compete include recaps of video-game tournaments and a variety of feature stories, including a gamer who confronts a hacker who impersonated him, and an interview with one of the world’s top players of Street Fighter.<\/p>\n
“It’s a lot like sports,” Marchman said in an interview. “There are team and leagues, shocking free agency moves and awesome plays that happened.”<\/p>\n
He wants the site to attract a broad audience.<\/p>\n
“I’d like it to appeal to people who are watching Twitch streams for five hours a day and to people who don’t really get what this is about but see big TV networks airing this as a spectator sport and want to find out why it might be worth their time,” he said.<\/p>\n
The fact that Gillette, which has a long history in sports marketing, is sponsoring an e-sports website is another sign that competitive video-gaming has gone mainstream, said Mia Libby, senior vice president of advertising sales at Fusion Media Group. Gillette also sponsors an e-sports player, Enrique Cedeno, and a major video game tournament in Poland.<\/p>\n
“Brands are starting to understand that e-sports is a real sport and something that people are flocking to,” Libby said in an interview.<\/p>\n
In its quest for younger audiences, Univision bought Gawker Media, which also owned the female-oriented Jezebel website and technology site Gizmodo, for $135 million in an August bankruptcy auction after Gawker was sued for posting excerpts of a sex tape featuring Hulk Hogan.<\/p>\n
Univision also owns The Root, a digital magazine of black news and culture; the satirical website the Onion; and several other media properties.<\/p>\n
(c) 2017, Bloomberg \u00b7 Gerry Smith<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Univision’s Fusion Media Group introduced a website dedicated to covering e-sports, its first new media property since buying bankrupt Gawker Media last year. Editors of the sports website Deadspin and gaming-themed Kotaku will run the new publication, called Compete, starting with two full-time writers who will cover the news and culture of competitive video-gaming. Gillette, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5409,"featured_media":100186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[4530,36,4531],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n