Facebook signs deal with esports giant ESL to livestream events

Taking on Twitter and Amazon-owned Twitch when it comes to livestreaming sport events, Facebook has now announced a partnership with global esports company ESL to bring over 5,550 hours of esports events and other original content to its platforms.

The news came after Facebook announced a tie-up with Major League Baseball (MLB) earlier this week to livestream 20 regular season games on the social network.

“The move will aid Facebook in challenging Amazon-owned Twitch as well as Twitter, both of which have esports deals as part of their efforts in the livestreaming space,” technology website techcrunch.com reported on Saturday.

In March, Twitter partnered with ESL and Dreamhack to live stream tournaments and other e-sports events. More than 15 events in the ESL One, Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) and DreamHack circuits will be live streamed globally on Twitter and connected devices.

In addition to all Intel Extreme Masters and ESL One tournament content, ESL will also produce live original content for Twitter, including a weekly 30-minute show featuring highlights and behind-the-scenes footage.

The social network has also updated its developer policies so that people cannot use the platform just for attention grabbing and flooding people’s news feeds with irrelevant content.

The move will explicitly forbid live videos that are “only images” (including animated images) or polls linked to largely inanimate material.