BLAST expands reach into China

BLAST has today excitingly announced a deal with DouYu to broadcast its BLAST Premier 2020 Counter Strike tournament. Under the nature of the deal, DouYu receives exclusive streaming rights in the Manadarin language for China.

DouYu, China’s leading live streaming service had 163.6 million monthly active users in 2019, will broadcast over 300 hours and over 150 matches across the year.

Alexander Lewin, VP Distribution and Programming, said: “Our partnership with streaming giant DouYu is further testament to the rapidly growing popularity of BLAST Premier in China. The Chinese market continues to play an integral role in the global esports world, and we are delighted to team up with DouYu to entertain millions of BLAST fans in China”.

China’s esports industry is the world’s largest by number of gamers. Roughly half the country’s population, over 600 million people, play games on phones, computers or game consoles, according to iResearch.

China accounts for a large viewership across the BLAST Premier Series, which is broadcast to over 150m homes on linear TV and available in more than 15 languages worldwide, ranging from English, French and Spanish to Russian and Vietnamese.

In 2019, BLAST delivered seven events across five continents with 1 billion minutes of broadcast in 19 different languages. In 2020, BLAST has expanded into DOTA 2 alongside its world- leading Counter-Strike: GO tournament series.

During Covid-19, BLAST has increased its output and introduced multiple new lines of tournaments, content series and commercial partnerships. BLAST has a full calendar from 30th April through to 21st June, bringing over 308 hours of world-class esports to fans around the world.

The BLAST Premier Spring Showdown is currently underway, watch live here.