Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Global esports organizer Forest Interactive Gaming Habitat Team (FIGHT) and video-sharing app TikTok have partnered to launch TikTok Gaming Ground PH (TikTok GGPH), an esports dedicated account, within the platform. This marks the start of a year-long partnership between TikTok Southeast Asia and FIGHT Esports, which is kicking off with TikTok Philippines.

Through TikTok Gaming Ground PH, the community of Filipino gamers on TikTok can expect a line of live gaming events and tournaments hosted by the official TikTok GGPH account, as well as even more gaming content, shared and compiled by the TikTok PH Gaming Community.

Gaming Operations Manager of TikTok PH, John Castro, commented that the app continues to pursue opportunities to inspire creativity and bring joy to all Filipinos.

“With gaming actively becoming a positive source for community building and enjoyment, we are happy to be doing our part in providing the growing gaming community with a platform for education, positive connections, and interaction,” said Castro.

To inaugurate their partnership, TikTok Philippines and FIGHT Esports are jointly hosting the first-ever #TikTokGGPH Creator Cup Tournament, which will be set within Valorant, a popular first-person shooter game developed by Riot Games. The Creator Cup Tournament will take place on 27- 28 February from 3 pm to 9 pm PST, to be live-streamed on TikTok via @tiktokggphofficial. To raise the stakes, TikTok Philippines is offering a $1,000 prize pool to be awarded to the champion, 1st runner up, and 2nd runner up of the tournament.

FIGHT is the esports arm of mobile platform Forest Interactives, which focuses on tournaments, showcases, and seminars that will help the gaming community. It has already hosted over 80 tournaments in seven countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Taiwan.

FIGHT’s Project Manager Chantal-Denise Ortega said that TikTok is fast becoming a place where people create, share, and enjoy a new type of experience. It really makes a lot of sense for them to leverage the digital entertainment platform to reach the gaming community and give them the opportunity to connect and share their passion with fellow gamers around the world.

“This will create a unique and innovative esports experience where they can follow and engage with their favorite gaming content creators, tune in to esports tournament live streams, as well as celebrate esports in ways that have never been done before,” Ortega added.

The TikTok app is also holding a video campaign for the official #TikTokGGPH launch, starting from 12 to 28 of February. Users may upload videos that capture their gaming style and must use the hashtag #TikTokGGPH. At the end of the campaign period, 20 creators will be selected to become part of TikTok’s community of gamers, based on the level of passion for gaming and creative potential seen in their videos.

London, United Kingdom – In-game advertising company Bidstack recently announced a new partner network with media partner platform Httpool and elite esports service agency GIMA Esports in the hopes of broadening up relationships to more brands and media platforms internationally.

Httpool’s partnership will mean an exclusive commercial focus on the Indian market. With a diverse portfolio of media partners and brands internationally, Bidstack aims at localizing its market expansion within the Indian esports culture.

On the other hand, GIMA Esports’ inclusion means a more diversified launch platform for Bidstack, offering services such as media partnerships, influencer, and brand activation. The esports agency has been responsible for maintaining esport relationships across US and MENA, with brands such as Twitch, Riot Games, and Hyper X joining their growing client portfolio.

Since the global pandemic started, advertisers have since then shifted their focus to gaming and esports channels as a viable marketing stream. With this, Bidstack hopes that such partner networks would help marketers create brand-safe and relevant ad campaigns within the esports culture.

“Shifts in media consumption globally are making it harder for advertisers to reach their audiences and there has been a significant industry-wide discussion about how these changes could be here to stay,” said Yasin Dabhelia, Bidstack’s global demand partnerships director.

As for Httpool, Amit Gupta, managing partner for Httpool India stated, “Marketers today are increasingly focussing on gaming and esports as a marketing channel. This has become even more obvious during lockdowns. And so, partnering with Bidstack has come at the right time. It creates an opportunity for us to actively participate in the discussion around how to activate the gaming space in the most authentic way and figure out the best ways to talk to gamers”.