World Rugby Names Strive For Esports Review

World Rugby has appointed Strive Sponsorship, the sport and entertainment marketing consultancy, to evaluate relevant opportunities within the video gaming and esports industry.

Video gaming and esports has enjoyed notable participation and viewership growth, and demonstrated impressive engagement rates, despite the battle for people’s attention intensifying.  All Ears Group’s FIFA TribeAllTruth report showed 56% of FIFA gamers had played for over 47 hours in the first seven months of 2018 alone, as long as a regular football season.

As the traditional media landscape fragments, engaging fans across multiple touch points grows in complexity and priority.  Tapping into the digitally native gaming and esports industries could offer unique opportunities to address these current challenges.

Tom Hill, Chief Commercial Officer at World Rugby, said: “We’re keen to better educate ourselves in the world of gaming and esports prior to making an assessment of what opportunities may exist in helping us achieve our objectives.

Strive’s intrinsic understanding and strong track record in sport, esports and gaming – and their intersection, gives us the confidence that we’re getting the best advice to make key strategic decisions.”

Malph Minns, Managing Director of Strive Sponsorship, said: “Gaming and esports is a multifaceted and ever-evolving landscape, evidenced by the fact we have has seen 14 different operating models adopted by sports organisations in esports to date. We’re thrilled to be working with World Rugby to help educate them on the space and explore potential opportunities that play specifically to their objectives, key target audiences and territories.”