FC Barcelona and Real Madrid rank number one and two as the most watched clubs on YouTube, according to Italy’s IQUII Sport

However, the English Premier League places the most clubs among the Top 20 on YouTube with six entries (Liverpool in third place, with Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal also in the Top 10).

Serie A has five clubs in the Top 20, LaLiga three, and Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga one each, in the research covering the period April 15-May 15, 2019.

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid account for as many YouTube followers as the following six clubs on the list.

Portugal’s FC Porto, in 20th place, is the only club from outside the five biggest leagues.

Infront has launched a new company called iX.co, an independent entity aimed at becoming a world leader in digital media and solutions connecting brands and sports rights holders to global fan audiences.

The new subsidiary brings together the entire brand and media competences of the Infront Group, including its in-house Infront Digital Service unit as well as New York-based OMNIGON, the digital services firm that caters to the sports and entertainment industries and which Infront acquired fully in 2019.

iX.co has a global workforce of over 250 working from Zug, New York, London, Los Angeles, Paris, St. Petersburg and Toronto.

Pooling its expertise into a natively digital brand will allow Infront to be more agile in responding to evolving trends in media consumption of sports. Through investing substantially in digital reach, engagement and monetisation capabilities, iX.co can drive the digital transformation process for rights holders and brands, helping them grow their audiences through content and engaging experiences.

“The launch of iX.co is an important step for Infront. Our group strategy and our business model are constantly evolving and diversifying to address the changing marketplace and the needs of our existing and future customers,” said Infront President & CEO Philippe Blatter (in photo above).

“iX.co is a rare breed in the digital media industry in that it combines product design, platform technology, data science, storytelling, and a direct-to-consumer as well as B2B service offering – all under one roof.”

“We can drive the digital transformation process by leveraging data science to understand how audiences behave, and what they seek, building memorable experiences, and commercialising these connections to help our customers grow their businesses,” he added.

Taking the helm at iX.co as CEO is Christoph Heimes, Infront’s Senior Director of Digital Media, Platforms and Services, and former YouTube Head of Sports, EMEA.

“The new company is built on an obsession for bridging the gap between storytelling and technology, connecting businesses to an entirely new age of consumer that demands their content be presented differently,” Heimes said. “Through collaborations and partnerships with digital innovators from around the world, we’re strategically and creatively going to be changing how fans experience sports, media and entertainment,” he added.

World Rugby has launched a global marketing campaign aimed at bringing more women into the game as they continue their drive to make the sport more “equitable”.

Reuters reports:

The global governing body of rugby union said there were already 2.7 million women playing the game with a 28% increase since the start of a development plan that aimed to double the number of female players between 2017 and 2025.

The “Try and Stop Us” campaign, which dubs women players the “Unstoppables,” aims to build on that momentum.

“We firmly believe that the development of women in rugby is the single greatest opportunity for our sport to grow over the next decade,” World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont told Tuesday’s campaign launch in Dublin.

“Women’s rugby is experiencing unprecedented growth around the world, participation levels are at an all-time high … (with women) making up a quarter of the global playing population.”

World Rugby’s drive to make the game more equitable had also born fruit on the administrative front, Beaumont said, with an unprecedented 17 women taking their place in the World Rugby Council, which meets this week.

Men still make up the majority on the Council, the highest decision-making body in the game, while the 12-strong executive committee has one female member, South African businesswoman Wendy Luhabe who sits as an independent director.

China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd is working with its U.S. unit Riot Games to develop a mobile version of “League of Legends”, the world’s most popular desktop-based game, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Relations between Tencent and Riot have long been strained over how to best to capitalize on the game, in which players hack and slash their way through battle arenas. Riot rejected a Tencent proposal years ago to develop a mobile version, one of the sources said.

Tencent then developed a similar mobile offering, “Honour of Kings” for China, which was launched in November 2015 and has become the world’s highest grossing multiplayer online battle arena game.

But in doing so, it created tensions with Riot which were further inflamed when Tencent launched an adaptation of “Honour of Kings”, called “Arena of Valor” for overseas markets in 2016 and 2017, sources have said. “Arena of Valor” has been regarded as a flop by some analysts after failing to click with Western gamers.

One of the sources said Tencent and Riot have been working on a mobile version of “League of Legends” for more than a year, although a separate source said it was unlikely to be launched in 2019.

The sources declined to be identified as details of the project were confidential. A spokesman for Tencent declined to comment. Representatives for Riot did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

While all three titles have similar gameplay and design, albeit with different characters, “League of Legends” has the biggest reach and at nearly 10 years old, the longest history.

“League of Legends is like the World Cup whereas Honour of Kings is just the Asia Cup,” one of the sources said.

The game brought in $1.4 billion in revenue last year, although that was down 21% from a year earlier, according data provider Statista.

“League of Legends is not doing as well as it used to and so Riot badly needs a new way to monetise the game, especially considering that it is Riot’s only game,” said Gu Tianyi, an Amsterdam-based analyst with gametracker Newzoo.

A mobile version would likely bring in more Asian players, who tend to prefer mobile-based games while Western gamers tend to prefer desktops or consoles for more sophisticated gameplay.

Mobile games accounted for 57% of videogame revenue in China in 2018 but only 36% in the U.S. market, according to Newzoo.

Gu added, however, it might be hard for a mobile “League of Legends” to achieve the same level of success in China as “Honour of Kings” without innovation in gameplay as the market for battle arena games was quite saturated.

“Honour of Kings” had more than 140 million active monthly users in March, Newzoo said.

A mobile “League of Legends” would also allow Tencent and Riot to organize more international competitions. They established a joint venture called Tengjing Sports in January to run e-sport tournaments and market League of Legends-related products.

League of Legends is the most popular desktop-based game ranked by number of unique users in a month, with 24.7% of all core PC gamers in the world playing the game in April, Newzoo said, without disclosing an absolute figure.

The League of Legends World Championship Finals was 2018’s biggest e-sports tournament by live hours watched across Twitch and YouTube Gaming, boasting 81.1 million hours watched.

Tencent bought a majority stake in Riot in 2011 and made it fully owned in 2015.

One of the biggest star athletes in esports is suing his pro team FaZe Clan over what he calls a contract that is “oppressive, onerous, and one-sided.”

In the complaint filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, Turner “Tfue” Tenney charges that FaZe Clan, with teams competing games such as Call of Duty, Fortnite Battle Royale and Counter-Strike, has players sign gamer agreements so that it will “essentially ‘own’ Tenney and other content creator/streamers and professional gamers.”

Mike Snider of USA Today reports:

A popular streamer on YouTube and Twitch, Tenney, 21 years old,  signed an agreement with FaZe Clan when he was 20. He says in the suit that FaZe Clan takes up to 80% of revenue paid by third parties for Tenney’s services such as sponsored online videos.

Tfue, who recently qualified for the $30 million Fortnite World Cup Finals in July in New York, has more than 10.7 million followers on YouTube, more than 6 million followers on Twitch, and 5.5 million Instagram followers.

“Anti-competitive provisions” in the agreement prevent Tenney from pursuing other deals, the suit charges. FaZe Clan violates state law because it acts as a talent agency but does not have “the requisite talent agency license,” the complaint charges.

The esports organisation also forced Tenney to drink alcohol at parties before he turned 21, the suit charges. Tenney wants the court to void the contract with FaZe Clan and award any suitable damages.

“Until now, FaZe Clan has enjoyed the fruits of this illegal business model with impunity because no one could or was willing to stand up to Faze Clan,” the suit says. “Those days are over. Through this action, Tenney seeks to shift the balance of power to the gamers and content creators/streamers, those who are actually creating value and driving the industry. As a result of this action, others will hopefully take notice of what is going on and help to clean up esports.”

In response to the suit, FaZe Clan issued a statement that it had not collected any revenue from Tenner’s tournament winnings, Twitch revenue, YouTube revenue or any social platform during their partnership. “We’re shocked and disappointed to see the news of Tfue’s press article and lawsuit,” the statement said.

“In fact, we have only collected a total of $60,000 from our partnership, while Tfue has earned millions as a member of FaZe Clan. While contracts are different with each player, all of them – including Tfue’s – have a maximum of 20% to FaZe Clan in both tournament winnings as well as content revenue, with 80% to the player. In Turner’s case, neither of those have been collected by FaZe Clan. …  We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished together over the past year with Turner and will continue to support him.”

Such a suit “was a long time coming in esports,” tweeted Ryan Morrison, an attorney who specializes in esports and video games law. “The industry has shown little to no respect to actual labour or fair competition laws. Faze getting the blame for what has become industry standard. Repeated to death, but all players should have an agent and a lawyer.”

Sydney-based Tracey Holmes, a long-time reporter and commentator known for her forthright coverage of the sports business, does a podcast for the Australia’s ABC NewsRadio called The Ticket.

At the recent SportAccord in Gold Coast, Tracey was the emcee of the Opening Ceremony, and in the exhibition area, she conducted numerous interviews (see the photo) of delegates on all and sundry interesting topics.

List to her enjoyable overview of the big event here.