FACEIT has added Twitch as a broadcast partner for the seventh season of ECS.
The CS:GO league was previously broadcast exclusively on YouTube, this deal marks the return of ECS to Twitch after it departed the streaming platform from its third season onwards.
The deal with Twitch is non-exclusive so ECS may well find its way back onto YouTube but now it will be broadcast on numerous platforms. FACEIT has also added ImbaTV, StarLadder, Fantasy Expo, and Black Molly as international broadcast partners for Season 7 of the competition.
Michele Attisani, Co-Founder & CBO of FACEIT discussed the move: “The community has made it clear to us that Twitch is important to them as viewers, so we’re delighted to be able to offer them access to ECS on that platform. ECS has broken records for CS:GO viewership on YouTube over past seasons, and now opening up our distribution gives the community more choice on how they watch their favourite teams compete. Season 7 has seen a number of changes to the format and viewing options to ensure we create exciting, engaging and entertaining content.”
FACEIT signed a deal with YouTube in March 2017 that would see ECS broadcast exclusively on the its platform, this surprised many as the event was originally delivered as a partnership between FACEIT and Twitch.
This isn’t the only CS:GO league to change the platform it’s being streamed on in recent times. The ESL CS:GO Pro League returned to Twitch last month following a change to its exclusive deal with Facebook. ESL originally broadcast all IEM, ESL One, and ESL Pro League action on the social media platform.
Esports Insider says: It’s clear that Twitch is an integral part of esports viewership – especially with CS:GO – so we’re not overly shocked to see FACEIT bring ECS back to the platform. The two major online leagues have both now returned to Twitch so CS:GO fans should be pretty happy!