Esports Content Now On NBC(LX)

With many of us at home, “spinning the dial” to find a TV show or movie that we want to watch, it is nice to know that more, new content is coming to the TV world. Last week I reported that more sports content was coming to television viewers, including both professional Lacrosse, as well as professional Esports content.

NBC announced that its over the air and digital streaming channel, NBCLX, will be programming Esports content starting today. The local TV station group of NBCUniversal last year launched a digital news brand and streaming network, called NBCLX. The L stands for “Local ” and according to TechCrunch, NBCU says the X stands for “exponential abilities.” The new digital network is going after Gen Z and Millennials – the younger demographics in the media world. These are also the age groups that are most likely to be cord-cutters, which has been confirmed for many years in my annual cord cutting online survey.

NBCLX was launched in 2019 to offer relatable content to younger viewers, and delivers local news and original programming. Audiences can access programming on LX.com or via Roku, Apple TV, YouTube TV and other platforms.

One of the hot content areas in the digital world today is streaming content and especially streaming of Esports competitions. NBCLX new esports content will include content about the big games in the Esports world today – such as Fortnite, Call of Duty, Apex Legends, etc. Some of the content will be mini-challenges and competitions. There will also be interviews with players and streamers, as well as some holiday season themed content. Other big Esports games include Valorant, Dota 2, Hearthstone, Overwatch, Rocket League, Counterstrike, PUBG and others.

“We are thrilled for NBCLX to present esports competitive entertainment to our audiences for the very first time,” said Matt Goldberg, VP of Content Strategy at NBCLX, in a statement. “Esports is a global phenomenon. We cannot wait to welcome the esports community and fans to our network.”

There are approximately 500 million people in the U.S., Europe and Asia that watch or attend Esports events. In the U.S. my annual research shows that about 60 million Americans attend or watch esports events.

Esports is very popular worldwide. For instance, a few weeks, ago the 2020 League of Legends (from gamemaker Riot Games owned by Tencent Holdings) World Championship was played in Shanghai and it was anticipated there would be approximately 200M viewers, totaling over 130 million hours of viewing. Others have reported the viewership at closer to 100 million people. Either way, it either matched or beat the last Super Bowl viewership. Esports is clearly a mass media content area.