Machinima and SiriusXM launch ‘Machinima’s Inside eSports Radio’ Show
Machinima and SiriusXM have joined forces for a new daily eSports radio show, “Machinima’s Inside eSports Radio,” launching on September 26. It will air exclusively for SiriusXM subscribers nationwide on satellite radios and on the SiriusXM app every weekday from 6-7pm on the SiriusXM Bleacher Report Radio, channel 83.
Hosts Alex “Axeltoss” Rodrigues and Joshua “Piscator” Lee will deliver the latest eSports tournament news, highlights, analysis and more. The hosts will provide a focus on first person shooter, multi-player online battle arena, real time strategy and fighting games. Guests will include high-level players, celebrity gamers and traditional athletes who have pursued eSports. Listeners will be encouraged to call in to the show to discuss the latest news and gaming advice.
Today’s launch marks another step for Machinima in expanding eSports programming across traditional platforms. In January 2016, it produced the first-ever eSports show on US broadcast television with the third season of Machinima’s series “Chasing the Cup” airing on The CW. Then in May, the multi-channel network created the in-house gaming agency “MACH-1” to better connect brands with gaming and eSports through proprietary research and analytics. Later in June, it announced a partnership with AMC Networks International Iberia to launch a gaming, eSports and fan-focused SVOD channel in Spain and Portugal for this fall 2016.
Machinima’s expansion comes at a time when gaming has never been so popular. According to research provided by SuperData, over 188 million people will watch competitive gaming this year. It’s on track to reach a global audience of 302 million by 2020. Additionally, the total worldwide market for eSports in 2016 is $910 million and it will grow to $1.3 billion by 2019.
Cable is also taking advantage of the eSports industry. ESPN created an eSports vertical in January 2016 to cover the world of competitive gaming, and Turner launched the competitive video gaming entity ELeague in May, in partnership with WME-IMG. ELeague made its primetime debut on TBS the same month.
