NODWIN Gaming, one of the world’s leading esports companies, has created history through its collaboration with the Star Sports Network for India’s first-ever televised esports tournament — the BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA (BGMI) Masters Series, by breaking all viewership records on linear (Star Sports), as well as digital platform Loco and mobile lock-screen platform Glance Live. The tournament has paved a new path by successfully introducing the world of esports to the ‘media dark’ audience while also opening new advertising and branding opportunities for both endemic and non-endemic brands. The grand finale of the mega series will take place on July 17 and the winning team will take home a trophy, a prize money of Rs. 25 lakhs and a brand-new Hyundai car worth Rs. 13 lakhs. With the top teams such as GodLike and Team Soul back in the lead, the excitement is further building up and a spike in viewership across all linear and digital platforms is expected.
The BGMI Master Series, being broadcast live on primetime every day from June 24 to July 17 on Star Sports 2, clocked 1.2 million impressions on Day 1 and 12.3 million views through the first eight days of broadcast on TV. According to the TV channel data, the Day 1 numbers beat the impressions of globally followed tournaments like the Australian Open 2022 that recorded 10.5 lakh/1 million impressions on Day 1, the French Open Day 1 with 6.5 lakh impressions and the UEFA CL Semi-Finals that saw 4.6 lakh impressions. The impressions on digital platforms Loco and mobile lock screen Glance Live, also reflected a combined exceptional 53.9 million views from June 24 – July 2, 2022.
“NODWIN Gaming and Star Sports 2 took a huge leap of faith by broadcasting the BGMI Master Series on television. Our aim was to expand the esports audience and capitalise on the fact that esports has a huge potential to fulfil the entertainment fix of both gamers and non-gamers on primetime television. We’ve been able to achieve all of this and more with the BGMI Master Series, which was further validated by the response of non-esports brands. We started off the tournament with just two partners and now we have seven sponsors on board, which include Swiggy, Hyundai, Spotify, Wings and Gillette. The viewership on both linear and digital platforms has been phenomenal and we are excited to see the climax building up for the grand finale. We are naturally delighted and proud to be part of this great moment in time when the history of esports is being written! We’re looking forward to bringing Indian esports at par or even higher than other marquee international sports events across platforms,” said Akshat Rathee, MD & Co-Founder, NODWIN Gaming.
| Event | Impressions (000s) | Channels |
| BGMI Masters series | 1201 | SS2 |
| Australian Open Day 1 | 1059 | Sony Ten 2 and Six |
| French Open Day 1 | 652 | Sony Ten 2 and Six |
| UEFA CL Semi-Finals | 464 | Sony Ten 2, Ten 3 and Ten 4 |
The BGMI Master Series’ opening day numbers also had a higher AMA (Average Minute Audience) when compared to Non-India Test match Cricket. The esports tournament’s AMA was 20% higher than the first Eng vs NZ test match.
The reach for the opening day of the BGMI Masters series was 290% of the UEFA champions league final between Liverpool and Real Madrid and 80% of the French Open Roland Garros finals featuring Rafael Nadal.
Catch all the exciting action of the BGMI Masters series only on Star Sports 2, every day till July 17, 2022, from 8:00 PM onwards.
