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Musings on the sponsorship situation in Korea - Page 4

Blogs > TotalBiscuit
Post a Reply
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courtpanda
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
866 Posts
August 28 2012 17:31 GMT
#61
well one problem i can see about what youre doing is that a lot of the teams are sponsored by korean companies, and exposure to america doesnt do much for them, so its essentially doing absolutely nothing. am i mistaken about this?
Probe1
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States17920 Posts
August 28 2012 17:35 GMT
#62
Korea exports around 50 billion dollars worth of goods to the United States every year (just narrowly less than the United Kingdom does). We're an important market to them, yeah.
우정호 KT_VIOLET 1988 - 2012 While we are postponing, life speeds by
mprs
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada2933 Posts
August 28 2012 17:37 GMT
#63
On August 29 2012 01:28 drsnuggles wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 29 2012 01:19 TotalBiscuit wrote:
1) The sponsorship situation in Korea is worse than I thought and the only team that is really well sponsored right now is LG-IM (none of them mentioned FXO though I assume they are doing well too atm)

Calling BS, team MVP is sponsored by Lotte which is "kind of a motherfucking big company", to say the least.


You can be sponsored by Apple, but if they only give you $5 a week, it doesn't help much. We don't know what kind of deal MVP has with Lotte.
We talkin about PRACTICE
Ripeace
Profile Joined January 2012
34 Posts
August 28 2012 17:40 GMT
#64
Thanks for that TB. <3
britneysbeers
Profile Joined June 2012
United Kingdom22 Posts
August 28 2012 17:41 GMT
#65
I think the merchantising by esports teams needs an overhaul. Would love to see one website where you could buy any team jersey or mug like regular sports etailers. And also teams actually designing shirts as fashionable items and not just a billboard for 10 sponsors. Fair product fair price the customers are there waiting to give you their money. Nice profit margin on clothing.
babylon
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
8765 Posts
August 28 2012 17:45 GMT
#66
If you see MMA play on his European account he clearly has a Blizzcon logo and it looks good. Blizzard could implement a system which would allow authorized teams to display sponsorship logos on command structures for instance.

I was just thinking about this the other day, due to the prevalence of ads in War3 tourney maps, like such. Obviously this will be so much more problematic for individual team sponsors, and it is somewhat ugly, but the uglier it is, the more effective it is ... so I say.

Red Bull does all right with their name-brand on ST's shirts nowadays in terms of visibility, lol.
TheBamf
Profile Joined June 2011
Denmark366 Posts
August 28 2012 17:46 GMT
#67
Good article, thanks for writing it.
IM.Nestea | IM.MvP | MvP.DongRaeGu. | Genius | ST.Parting I SlayerS.MMA
VirgilSC2
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United States6151 Posts
August 28 2012 17:54 GMT
#68
On August 29 2012 01:49 n0ise wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 29 2012 01:43 VirgilSC2 wrote:
On August 29 2012 01:35 TotalBiscuit wrote:
On August 29 2012 01:33 jeeeKyy wrote:
On August 29 2012 01:32 Lineridarz wrote:
I like the idea, but you're no doubt going to see a drop in viewer numbers. Good luck.



Drop in viewer numbers ? Why so ?


Because some fans wanna see white-dudes win.

The fact of the matter is that there just isn't the interest in anything outside the "BIG PLAYERS"

It's really really really hard to sell an event that doesn't have the ultimate top tier players (popularity wise) to the general viewing audience.

Trust me, I've tried. The viewership interest just isn't there for the players. Perhaps with someone like TB behind the tournament he might have enough fans to pull it through, but as far as Korean players go, if you're not a GSL winner it's really hard to get people interested in you.

Maybe if there were some way to get interview content or something out during the tournament, it might be another step in the right direction, but from my experience it's really really tough to get people interested in "just another Korean player".

Not to say what it looks like the Brit plans on doing isn't a good thing, I'm just saying it's going to be really hard to generate the same interest you get with the big foreign names just simply because the face isn't there.


A regular korean stop, with good commentary and decent prize money is bound to draw a lot of viewers, granted that the scheduling is done right and there's some hyping there.

Also, as koreans play cross-server, foreigners will also try and get a piece in, so it won't be a completely "isolated" event.

No.

You would think it might, but it actually won't UNLESS its all the top top popularity players. The interest for Koreans just isn't there.
Clarity Gaming #1 Fan | Avid MTG Grinder | @VirgilSC2
Misacampo
Profile Joined July 2012
167 Posts
August 28 2012 17:59 GMT
#69
I thought SlayerS was the most well-sponsored team in korea, or did that go away once boxer left....?
TotalBiscuit
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United Kingdom5437 Posts
August 28 2012 18:03 GMT
#70
On August 29 2012 02:59 Misacampo wrote:
I thought SlayerS was the most well-sponsored team in korea, or did that go away once boxer left....?


I have it on good authority that SlayerS is not that well sponsored at all.
CommentatorHost of SHOUTcraft Clan Wars- http://www.mlg.tv/shoutcraft
Niazger
Profile Joined August 2011
Germany41 Posts
August 28 2012 18:05 GMT
#71
I would rather not have "TB charity tournaments" that have no purpose other than keeping korean teams alive. That wont be successful in the long run because the reason koreans dont have sponsors is not that they dont travel or that they have less online tournaments.
RenSC2
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
United States1069 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-08-28 18:13:36
August 28 2012 18:09 GMT
#72
On August 29 2012 02:59 Misacampo wrote:
I thought SlayerS was the most well-sponsored team in korea, or did that go away once boxer left....?

I believe they were initially given a very nice sponsorship of around $500,000 for the first year, but I don't think the sponsor renewed that deal past the first year. I'm not an Esports insider, I just remember something like that.

Having money pulled out from under you can actually be a lot tougher than barely having money from the start since you've taken on certain financial obligations that you can no longer afford.

edit: back on topic. I was hoping that Red Bull would have been a big sponsor for Startale. Are they really going a relatively cheap route? Perhaps Startale just overextended too much? They had a good sized roster and still decided to absorb ZeNex.
Playing better than standard requires deviation. This divergence usually results in sub-standard play.
Keytar
Profile Joined May 2011
Canada156 Posts
August 28 2012 18:11 GMT
#73
This makes me want Korean Weekly Season 4 to start even more now. I always wondered how the hell they got all the top Koreans to compete in it for a (comparatively) small prize pool. I guess if the players aren't really making much money otherwise, it's fairly appealing.
I try to be rage-free as I game. As you can imagine, this is difficult.
NeMeSiS3
Profile Blog Joined February 2012
Canada2972 Posts
August 28 2012 18:12 GMT
#74
Great write up
FoTG fighting!
MoreFaSho
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States1427 Posts
August 28 2012 18:17 GMT
#75
I get ideally you wouldn't have sponsors that cross too badly? I think the effort is very admirable, what are your plans to help with team sponsor issues?

MLG is pretty good at this because they focus on a lot of lifestyle brands that are hard for teams to get (dr. pepper, stride gum, etc), but it's certainly possible that you can have conflicts (intel and amd are big sponsors, so are razer and steelseries, etc.). I think it might be worth helping to "out" sponsors who demand unreasonable exclusivity.

The Dr. Pepper situation at MLG is almost comical. I get on the margins water is a competitor, but that doesn't make it a strong enough substitute to not allow in the venue.
I always try to shield slam face, just to make sure it doesnt work
aherisanu
Profile Joined August 2012
Romania3 Posts
August 28 2012 18:19 GMT
#76
Do you think TSL4 could try TBs idea out? After winning a game, team sponsors logo should show up?
Get a Beagle they said, it would be fun they said!
Rescawen
Profile Joined April 2010
Finland1028 Posts
August 28 2012 18:19 GMT
#77
all hail tb for growing esports!!! will watch zerg games.
Zandar
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Netherlands1541 Posts
August 28 2012 18:20 GMT
#78
It's very true, foreign teams do get sponsors, with much worse players.
I wouldn't be surprised with the power Kespa has, if many big Korean sponsors have some shady agreement to not sponsor the GSL teams.

I also think non Korean e-sports sponsors should step in and sponsor Korean teams instead of crappy foreign players, this seems like a great opportunity for them you'd say.

Love your idea too TB, I'm sure it will help
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
MstrJinbo
Profile Joined March 2011
United States1251 Posts
August 28 2012 18:20 GMT
#79
It made me really happy to see Parting wearing his Red Bull shirt after his OSL game. We really need more sponsorship visibility like that. Glad to see TB take the initiative here and hope other tournament organizers take note.
Theeakoz
Profile Joined July 2011
United States1114 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-08-28 18:23:37
August 28 2012 18:23 GMT
#80
This is great! I feel like you are a grandpa for e-sports. Don't worry it's not your age it that make it that, but your wisdom. Love your channel, absolutely adore and love your casting work, love what you do for us and for the indie gaming companies. Please keep your chin up and work on your only flaw, ignoring haters.
Please change the luck dependancy of spawning locations on rotationally symmetric maps.
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