In its quarterly rankings of the social reach of esports teams, GumGum Sports gave the Q2 2019 overall organization title to FaZe Clan, which retained the top spot despite the departure of popular Fortnite streamer Tfue. TSM came in No. 2, while Immortals Gaming Club jumped three spots to No. 3, thanks to a significant boost across all social platforms that followed the organization’s acquisition of legacy esports team OpTic Gaming.
To determine the overall rankings, GumGum Sports tallied follower count for every pro player, influencer and team account across all social platforms, taking into account the top esports teams in North America and Europe. Rounding out the rankings for overall esports organizations were 100 Thieves, NRG, Cloud9, Team Liquid, Team Vitality, Fnatic and Rogue. 100 Thieves moved up to No. 4 from No. 12 on the strength of their Call of Duty finishes and YouTube esports content, which included the top trending videos in the esports category on that platform.
To see the entirety of the rankings, visits GumGum’s interactive esports ranking experience.
“Social reach in esports shifts rapidly and we’re seeing the overall influence of teams growing a lot,” said GumGum Sports GM Brian Kim. “Look at this and last quarter’s top organization, FaZe Clan––they didn’t even finish in the top 10 of GumGum’s first esports rankings in 2018.” In addition to illustrating how fast and in what ways the esports landscape is changing, Kim explained that the rankings serve a practical function: “By defining the social strength of the industry’s big names, we’re helping brands better understand the opportunities across the sponsorship landscape in as close to real time as possible.”
Beyond providing social rankings, GumGum Sports’ engagement in the esports category includes delivering AI-powered sponsorship value measurement and operating an esports sponsorship management platform, which allows streamers and organizations to control in-stream sponsorship rotations without interrupting gameplay.
About GumGum Sports
GumGum Sports is a leading innovator in AI-powered sports sponsorship and marketing technology. A division of computer-vision pioneer GumGum, the company analyzes millions of videos and images across broadcast, streaming and social to deliver meaningful business insights and sponsorship intelligence to sports and esports teams, leagues, agencies and brands around the world. GumGum Sports is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif. Visit gumgum.com/sports for more information.
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