Esports tournament organiser BLAST Premier has expanded its media rights deal with Douyu, China’s leading live streaming service. This will create an opportunity for local Chinese teams to compete on a global scale.
As part of the expansion, Douyu will retain exclusive broadcast rights for the rest of the BLAST Premier 2021 season and get the opportunity to deliver the first ever BLAST event in China by hosting a Fall Qualifier.
The deal will see BLAST Premier streamed across Douyu and extended to Huya and Bilibili with over 500 million monthly active users across all three platforms.
The announcement comes off the back of a number of new deals for BLAST Premier with the esports tournament organiser’s portfolio of media rights growing to over 35 partners, while shown in 18 different languages and to over 150 TV territories.
China is one of the fastest growing markets for esports in the world, which translates to a live streaming audience of 193 million in 2021 with BLAST Premier enjoying some of its biggest viewership in the country.
BLAST Premier is a global Counter-Strike tournament series that unites all major events, offers opportunities to all regions across the globe and crowns the world champions of CS:GO. Up to 32 teams will take part in the seven events this year with a combined prize pool of $2,475,000 on the line. The BLAST Premier Qualifiers provide teams from all corners of the world with an opportunity to feature in the tournament organiser’s events and a platform to compete on an elite level.