The new league, the Telia Esports Series, kicked off at the end of April 2019 and has been designed for viewers as much as players, being broadcast on Finnish national television and also internationally through the Twitch channel. Telia will run the Telia Esports Series in partnership with Assembly, a local specialist organizer of digital culture and games events. The starting tournament features Counter-Strike: Global Offensive computer game and the Arena of Valor mobile game, with a total prize pot of €50,000, with top esports teams in Finland participating.

Using pre-existing studio and remote facilities of the production company Streamteam and exploiting virtual studio tools, Broadcast Solutions is providing Telia with a platform designed to maximize use of existing infrastructure. This follows Broadcast Solutions’ implementation of a remote production hub with virtual studio facilities for Streamteam and Telia’s joint production of Finnish Ice Hockey. Part of this infrastructure is now ready to produce the Telia Esports Series.

This double-use underlines flexibility of the hub and the virtual technology, according to Broadcast Solutions. The studio and gaming room are located in a production facility 2km away from the Remote Production Hub.

Broadcast Solutions argues that operators and production companies should be looking to become involved in eSports at a time of phenomenal growth. According to the eSports and mobile gaming analyst firm Newzoo, eSports will generate $1.1 billion revenue in 2019, 26.7% up year on year. Around 82% of this, or $897.2 million, will come from brand investment including advertising, sponsorship and media rights. Sponsorship will be the biggest single contributor on $456.7 million.

Although focusing initially on Finland, Telia sees its new esports league as a proving ground for wider deployment, starting in a country that is punching ahead of its weight in this sector. Gaming has become a professional sport in Finland, with more than 50 full time players belonging to gaming organizations, such as Telia’s partner ENCE. According to research company Statista, Finland was the fifth best esports country in the world in 2018 measured in prize money. “According to our vision, Finland will be a world leader in esports and gaming will be the greatest passion of the North,” said Telia Finland business manager Niklas Segercrantz. “The launch of the Telia Esports Series is the first concrete step towards this goal.”