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MLG raises $11.3m in additional funding - Page 12

Forum Index > SC2 General
349 CommentsPost a Reply
Prev 1 10 11 12 13 14 18 Next All
SuperFanBoy
Profile Joined June 2011
New Zealand1068 Posts
March 14 2012 12:03 GMT
#221
On March 14 2012 20:46 Doodsmack wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 14 2012 20:28 SuperFanBoy wrote:
"The company had its biggest year in 2011, as the number of unique visitors during its Pro Circuit Season increased by 225 percent over the previous year. 241,000 people tuned into its Providence National Championships event alone last November."

It's because they added LoL to their roster.. LoL right now is the biggest esport in terms of viewers, recently IEM LoL stream had 250k+ viewers at one time.



Aren't LoL stream numbers inflated by the fact that everyone with the game open can watch? Do they actually count people idly sitting in the game's main menu as viewers?


No that is wrong, I play LoL and at no point in time does the stream open.. The stream is advertised on the LoL main menu which you can click and open it if you wish to watch (its merely a link).. I don't think people realize how big of a magnitude LoL is.. if the stream automatically opened for everyone playing LoL the viewer count would be in the millions. Riot Games are taking esports to a whole new level, Blizzard should take notes.

The other day on LoL there was message saying please restart your launcher for new patch, because of everyone logging in at the same time after the patch people had to wait in a queue.. while I was in the queue there was 120,000 people lined up in the queue and the login was taking in about 500 people in per second. I think in peak times LoL might reach an average of 2-3 million players playing at once.
NaEjeOn88
Profile Joined August 2011
United States134 Posts
March 14 2012 12:21 GMT
#222
amazing and awsome GO E SPORTS!!!
TotalBiscuit
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United Kingdom5437 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-14 12:31:10
March 14 2012 12:28 GMT
#223
On March 14 2012 21:03 SuperFanBoy wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 14 2012 20:46 Doodsmack wrote:
On March 14 2012 20:28 SuperFanBoy wrote:
"The company had its biggest year in 2011, as the number of unique visitors during its Pro Circuit Season increased by 225 percent over the previous year. 241,000 people tuned into its Providence National Championships event alone last November."

It's because they added LoL to their roster.. LoL right now is the biggest esport in terms of viewers, recently IEM LoL stream had 250k+ viewers at one time.



Aren't LoL stream numbers inflated by the fact that everyone with the game open can watch? Do they actually count people idly sitting in the game's main menu as viewers?


No that is wrong, I play LoL and at no point in time does the stream open.. The stream is advertised on the LoL main menu which you can click and open it if you wish to watch (its merely a link).. I don't think people realize how big of a magnitude LoL is.. if the stream automatically opened for everyone playing LoL the viewer count would be in the millions. Riot Games are taking esports to a whole new level, Blizzard should take notes.

The other day on LoL there was message saying please restart your launcher for new patch, because of everyone logging in at the same time after the patch people had to wait in a queue.. while I was in the queue there was 120,000 people lined up in the queue and the login was taking in about 500 people in per second. I think in peak times LoL might reach an average of 2-3 million players playing at once.


Yeah, LoL has like 30 million players and 11 million of those are active, compared to about 5 million for SC2 and 550,000 or so active on ladder (based on SCranks.com data of all active players within the last 3 months). Of course it's going to get more raw numbers, it's ratio of players to esports viewers however is much lower, not to mention that SC2 does have a lot of people who do not actively play or don't even own the game, who will watch SC2. I've played a lot of LoL and I've got to say I think the appeal to non-players is close to zero.
CommentatorHost of SHOUTcraft Clan Wars- http://www.mlg.tv/shoutcraft
Wren
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
United States745 Posts
March 14 2012 12:47 GMT
#224
On March 14 2012 05:44 Jinsho wrote:
This is why they had to do February's PPV. They needed to show to the VCs that PPV is possible and can generate revenue.

As correct as this statement is, the filing tells us absolutely nothing about the success of said PPV event. The filing will be identical if 1 person paid versus 1 million. It is information exclusively about 2011.
We're here! We're queer! We don't want any more bears!
bonifaceviii
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada2890 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-14 12:50:23
March 14 2012 12:49 GMT
#225
Thinking about it, this investment is a pretty good explanation why the Winter Arena was rolled out as PPV so quickly and haphazardly.Probably there was a long term plan to implement some kind of PPV, but the investors wanted to see that it worked now before they ponied up any money.

MLG being stuck between a rock and a hard place, in a span of weeks they come up with a new PPV event on the same weekend as another one, pay all the expenses of the players to get them there and proceed to ignore (or "I get it") the protests of their pre-paid subscribers to show that PPV works.

I guess it does; at least enough for the investors.
Stay a while and listen || http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=354018
ReboundEU
Profile Joined September 2010
508 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-14 14:04:01
March 14 2012 13:56 GMT
#226
On March 14 2012 03:31 ThatGuy89 wrote:
hmmm seems like PPV paid off?
glad to see Esports growing


PPV covered ONLY the costs of THAT turney. Stop daydreaming.

Put it like this. If they had a record-high and almost imposible online viewership number of 100k viewers (just for starcraft) * 20$ = 2 mil dolors. Keep in mind they didn't have 100k viewers for starcraft only. Maybe 25-50k? So max 1 mil dolors they made from that event.

Now deduct the hotel rezervations + airplain transport + interwebz/stream (not sure about this one) + MC's burgers (sry iNcontrol, had to throw it in there :D ) + prizes + casters + (very important) the casts made for the qualifiers + production (which includes paying the ppl hierd to make this event possible). Everything costs....including breathing air.
.... and u have about enough money for a "0.5l Cola" left.

Those 11.3m$ are strictly from investors and THAT is a good thing.

U MAD BRO?
purecarnagge
Profile Joined August 2010
719 Posts
March 14 2012 13:56 GMT
#227
is MLG ever going to turn a profit....
MaV_gGSC
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
Canada1345 Posts
March 14 2012 13:57 GMT
#228
That is a lot... then again MLG is huge so :/
Life's good :D
bonifaceviii
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada2890 Posts
March 14 2012 13:58 GMT
#229
On March 14 2012 22:56 purecarnagge wrote:
is MLG ever going to turn a profit....

If they cobble together short-term revenue bursts whenever VCs want them to it won't matter!
Stay a while and listen || http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=354018
Louis8k8
Profile Joined December 2011
Canada285 Posts
March 14 2012 14:02 GMT
#230
Hurray for MLG. Always wishing for more recognition and sponsors from corporates.
Sphen5117
Profile Joined September 2011
United States413 Posts
March 14 2012 14:03 GMT
#231
On March 14 2012 03:40 idonthinksobro wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 14 2012 03:31 ThatGuy89 wrote:
hmmm seems like PPV paid off?
glad to see Esports growing


no this is a completly baseless assumption, lets assume PPV was horrible what would you do to make it look like success?
Right release press news that you increase the funding but if you really look at these figures it doesn't mean anything really since they actually don't really know what they should do with all the money they made over the last year and deal could have been made way before the mlg.

I'm still very sceptical if the PPV thing was a success they were at least break even for sure but every neutral poll showed that like 70%-80% of the people that would have watched didn't due to PPV. I don't really know if the sponsors did like this.

This news timing seems like another strategical piece towards making people believe it was a great sucess, like the tweet right before MLG saying "PPV preorders exceeded our expactations".


I'm pretty sure I remember hearing an MLG employee mention that it wasn't a 70% failure right like you suggest. Polls are often terrible sources of info. If you're looking at TL polls for example, which asked if people would pay, well remember that TL is only part of the SC2 fanbase, and the answers given were only speculation. The only true info to go off would be to see flat out how many tickets were purchased on MLG's end, not a poll on a website.
Jiddra
Profile Joined October 2010
Sweden2685 Posts
March 14 2012 14:05 GMT
#232
On March 14 2012 21:28 TotalBiscuit wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 14 2012 21:03 SuperFanBoy wrote:
On March 14 2012 20:46 Doodsmack wrote:
On March 14 2012 20:28 SuperFanBoy wrote:
"The company had its biggest year in 2011, as the number of unique visitors during its Pro Circuit Season increased by 225 percent over the previous year. 241,000 people tuned into its Providence National Championships event alone last November."

It's because they added LoL to their roster.. LoL right now is the biggest esport in terms of viewers, recently IEM LoL stream had 250k+ viewers at one time.



Aren't LoL stream numbers inflated by the fact that everyone with the game open can watch? Do they actually count people idly sitting in the game's main menu as viewers?


No that is wrong, I play LoL and at no point in time does the stream open.. The stream is advertised on the LoL main menu which you can click and open it if you wish to watch (its merely a link).. I don't think people realize how big of a magnitude LoL is.. if the stream automatically opened for everyone playing LoL the viewer count would be in the millions. Riot Games are taking esports to a whole new level, Blizzard should take notes.

The other day on LoL there was message saying please restart your launcher for new patch, because of everyone logging in at the same time after the patch people had to wait in a queue.. while I was in the queue there was 120,000 people lined up in the queue and the login was taking in about 500 people in per second. I think in peak times LoL might reach an average of 2-3 million players playing at once.


Yeah, LoL has like 30 million players and 11 million of those are active, compared to about 5 million for SC2 and 550,000 or so active on ladder (based on SCranks.com data of all active players within the last 3 months). Of course it's going to get more raw numbers, it's ratio of players to esports viewers however is much lower, not to mention that SC2 does have a lot of people who do not actively play or don't even own the game, who will watch SC2. I've played a lot of LoL and I've got to say I think the appeal to non-players is close to zero.


The real test will be when the LoL audience need to pay for something. The LoL viewers are hard to value for a sponsor.
I am not young enough to know everything.
Sphen5117
Profile Joined September 2011
United States413 Posts
March 14 2012 14:07 GMT
#233
On March 14 2012 21:49 bonifaceviii wrote:
Thinking about it, this investment is a pretty good explanation why the Winter Arena was rolled out as PPV so quickly and haphazardly.Probably there was a long term plan to implement some kind of PPV, but the investors wanted to see that it worked now before they ponied up any money.

MLG being stuck between a rock and a hard place, in a span of weeks they come up with a new PPV event on the same weekend as another one, pay all the expenses of the players to get them there and proceed to ignore (or "I get it") the protests of their pre-paid subscribers to show that PPV works.

I guess it does; at least enough for the investors.


Good point. even if the PPV was done shoddily (whether you agree with the idea or not), it's a good thing if MLG is able to prove itself to investors. More investment in tourneys = more and longer term pro SC2 for us all to enjoy.

I know one thing is for certain: MLG didn't raise this money to support future tournaments from people using adblock or bitching about a ticket price that's no more than a decent meal.
RvB
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Netherlands6268 Posts
March 14 2012 14:09 GMT
#234
On March 14 2012 22:56 ReboundEU wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 14 2012 03:31 ThatGuy89 wrote:
hmmm seems like PPV paid off?
glad to see Esports growing


PPV covered ONLY the costs of THAT turney. Stop daydreaming.

Put it like this. If they had a record-high and almost imposible online viewership number of 100k viewers (just for starcraft) * 20$ = 2 mil dolors. Keep in mind they didn't have 100k viewers for starcraft only. Maybe 25-50k? So max 1 mil dolors they made from that event.

Now deduct the hotel rezervations + airplain transport + interwebz/stream (not sure about this one) + MC's burgers (sry iNcontrol, had to throw it in there :D ) + prizes + casters + (very important) the casts made for the qualifiers + production (which includes paying the ppl hierd to make this event possible). Everything costs....including breathing air.
.... and u have about enough money for a "0.5l Cola" left.

Those 11.3m$ are strictly from investors and THAT is a good thing.



A lot of the viewers could watch for free too, so you an substract that from the revenue's.
Synche
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1345 Posts
March 14 2012 14:09 GMT
#235
Yeah I agree, the entirely of the LoL phenomenon is generated out of Riot these days, prize pools, flights, viewership, they're holding it up right now with both hands, and the trick will be seeing if they can let go without it collapsing.

Or they might not need to. They have a good business model where more eyes means more players means more revenue. So who knows?
Jiddra
Profile Joined October 2010
Sweden2685 Posts
March 14 2012 14:12 GMT
#236
On March 14 2012 23:07 Sphen5117 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 14 2012 21:49 bonifaceviii wrote:
Thinking about it, this investment is a pretty good explanation why the Winter Arena was rolled out as PPV so quickly and haphazardly.Probably there was a long term plan to implement some kind of PPV, but the investors wanted to see that it worked now before they ponied up any money.

MLG being stuck between a rock and a hard place, in a span of weeks they come up with a new PPV event on the same weekend as another one, pay all the expenses of the players to get them there and proceed to ignore (or "I get it") the protests of their pre-paid subscribers to show that PPV works.

I guess it does; at least enough for the investors.


Good point. even if the PPV was done shoddily (whether you agree with the idea or not), it's a good thing if MLG is able to prove itself to investors. More investment in tourneys = more and longer term pro SC2 for us all to enjoy.

I know one thing is for certain: MLG didn't raise this money to support future tournaments from people using adblock or bitching about a ticket price that's no more than a decent meal.


But, is it only the SC2 crowd that will be paying? Where is the LoL PPV, Halo PPV, MK PPV etc. Have MLG raised ticket costs for attending events live?

IF the SC2 crowd is the only part of their viewers that can be relied on to pay for content and for MLG being alive, Im a bit worried for the future.
I am not young enough to know everything.
XiGua
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Sweden3085 Posts
March 14 2012 14:13 GMT
#237
Great job MLG!

I look forward to great production quality in the future. Hopefully it will stay as the best Starcraft tournament for me. :D
ლ(ಠ益ಠლ) APM, Why u make me spam?
ReboundEU
Profile Joined September 2010
508 Posts
March 14 2012 14:14 GMT
#238
On March 14 2012 23:09 RvB wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 14 2012 22:56 ReboundEU wrote:
On March 14 2012 03:31 ThatGuy89 wrote:
hmmm seems like PPV paid off?
glad to see Esports growing


PPV covered ONLY the costs of THAT turney. Stop daydreaming.

Put it like this. If they had a record-high and almost imposible online viewership number of 100k viewers (just for starcraft) * 20$ = 2 mil dolors. Keep in mind they didn't have 100k viewers for starcraft only. Maybe 25-50k? So max 1 mil dolors they made from that event.

Now deduct the hotel rezervations + airplain transport + interwebz/stream (not sure about this one) + MC's burgers (sry iNcontrol, had to throw it in there :D ) + prizes + casters + (very important) the casts made for the qualifiers + production (which includes paying the ppl hierd to make this event possible). Everything costs....including breathing air.
.... and u have about enough money for a "0.5l Cola" left.

Those 11.3m$ are strictly from investors and THAT is a good thing.



A lot of the viewers could watch for free too, so you an substract that from the revenue's.


That is correct, thx for pointing it out, i forgot about that issue. Well consider i took "ideal numbers" or "maximum profit possible" And yes if u put in the REAL viewership numbers things look even more grimm.

Thx for that RvB
U MAD BRO?
crydee
Profile Joined October 2011
92 Posts
March 14 2012 14:26 GMT
#239
A lot of praising MLG for being able to raise more money but we have no idea what the shares were valued out for this deal. We would need to know what the price of shares was throughout each funding period to see if MLG, is improving and thus more attractive to investors (willing to pay more per share, accept lower returns because they view the risk as lower)...
ControlMonkey
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Australia3109 Posts
March 14 2012 15:30 GMT
#240
On March 14 2012 05:18 blamekilly wrote:
How much of the money have the players received? I don't think it's more than $300k for all the MLG combined.


The combined prizepool for all games at Providence was over $600,000.

Total prizepool for 2011 for all events was over $1.1 million.

For Starcraft 2 alone it was around $210,000.
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