After Super League Gaming was affected by COVID-19, they began to notice changes in the gaming space. They started focusing on their services built for digital events as the industry moved away from in-person events. In the process, they realized how much they might help creators and began looking for ways to assist them in building their businesses.
Framerate had already developed a reputation for helping creators monetize their gameplay, but they wanted to do more. Super League Gaming even shifted their Minehut service to help players create more immersive and better servers for their communities, acquiring Mobcrush and Bannerfy to help creators turn a hobby into a business.
By also acquiring Bloxbiz, they're paving the way for everyday creators to earn a living while playing the games they love. I recently spoke with Super League's Chief Commercial Officer, Matt Edelman, to learn how far Super League Gaming was planning to go with this pro-creator mindset.
Super League Gaming's Strategy To Support Content Creators
With Framerate and Minehut, Super League Gaming had already established a foothold in this pro-creator mindset. Framerate is a service where users can get paid and gain exposure for submitting gameplay clips, where Minehut is a free way to host Minecraft servers where creators can build entire communities without incurring costs.
Still, I wanted to learn how Super League Gaming would lead the way in video game marketing, so I asked Matt how he saw video game advertising evolving over the next five years and what he thought it would look like.
He said:
Our focus over the past 15 months has been looking at how we can help brands build authentic relationships with gamers, players, creators, fans viewers… Having a presence in game, there's no better way to capture a gamer than when they are passionately playing the game they love.
Super League Gaming's Three Ways To Reach Gamers
Matt explained that the three ways to do this are in-stream, in-game, and in-content. Super League Gaming pushed a mindset of helping creators generate content in-stream by acquiring Mobcrush and launching Virtualis Studios.
Mobcrush positions itself as the streamer's best friend. Users can simultaneously broadcast to Facebook, Trovo, YouTube Gaming, and Twitch with a single feed for all channels that support Twitch emotes, Superchat, and Bit Donations. It even incorporates ReplayEngine's intelligent automated clipping, which highlights best plays and lets users download their favorite moments from recent streams.
Virtualis Studios is a cloud-based video production company with many capabilities to support productions of varying sizes and ambitions. Among these are unscripted and lifestyle programming, branded content, and live sports engagement. Both services give SuperLeague multiple avenues for in-stream engagement.
Super League Gaming acquired BloxBiz and Bannerfy to help expand its in-game and in-content presence. It enables creators and advertisers to work together without harming the user experience. For example, because ads are usually found on billboards and posters on Bloxbiz, players can navigate through Roblox games without feeling bombarded by advertisements.
Bannerfy uses the space where the banner appears on social media profiles like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. Creators and brands can sign up for a service that matches them together. Bannerfy serves as an intermediary, helping creators find brands and brands find creators without sending e-mails and scheduling appointments. By doing so, both sides can concentrate on earning money and reaching new audiences.
Super League Gaming's Pro-Creator Mindset
I had several questions about why Super League Gaming supports streamers and content creators so strongly. Several of their services are free, such as Manacube, and Framerate will even pay gamers who excel at their games.
With that in mind, I asked Matt why they pursued this strategy to begin with and how far this pro-gamers/pro-content creator type model is likely to expand.
The coronavirus pandemic helped shape Super League's acquisition strategy.
"The company has really transitioned since pre-COVID when we were focused more on mass participation in-person events," Edelman said. "We began to see how much of an impact we could have for creators who were spending more time gaming than ever before and seeing the benefits of doing that in terms of growing their audiences, generating revenue, becoming more meaningful in the cultural zeitgist."
Super League Gaming began this process with Framerate, which lets every player feel like a creator by simply sending a highlight from a game session, and it's expanded all the way to Minehut and its role in helping creators develop more imaginative places.
This is just the start for Super League, though.
"We're not done. We think that the creator community at large is only going to become more important in the video game ecosystem and in the media space in general," Edelman said. "We are leaning into these different creator communities who we've already assembled and aggregated based on the businesses we've grown and acquired and we will continue to support those creator communities."
To learn more about how Super League Gaming is hoping to lead the future of content creation, check out the full interview below.
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