Pilgrim Media Group Pacts with ESL for Original Content

NORTH HOLLYWOOD/BURBANK: Pilgrim Media Group and eSports company ESL have partnered to develop and distribute original content for TV and digital platforms.

Lionsgate, which last year made an equity investment in Pilgrim, helped orchestrate the new content partnership. As games-market research group Newzoo reported in January, the eSports economy is projected to grow to $1.1 billion in revenue by 2019 and entertain an audience of 345 million fans.

“Pilgrim has a long history of creating competition programming that taps into the passion of fans, whether the playing field is the Octagon, the wilderness, on a fishing boat or in an arena,” said Craig Piligian, Pilgrim Media Group’s CEO. “We’re extremely excited to bring the power, scope and mental muscle of gaming to television in a way that helps these loyal fans experience eSports as never before.”

“eSports is exploding,” added ESL’s executive chairman Steven Roberts. “Combining the authenticity of ESL with the storytelling expertise of Pilgrim and Lionsgate to further expand the audience is exciting. While the core gaming fans have been enjoying our content for years, the opportunity to showcase eSports through a different lens is an amazing opportunity.”

Peter Levin, Lionsgate’s president of interactive ventures and games, remarked, “Our partnership with Craig Piligian and relationship with ESL created the perfect opportunity to bring together the biggest eSports promoter in the world and one of the most established and prolific unscripted production companies. We see tremendous growth potential in eSports as it becomes a major player in the gaming ecosystem, and we’re thrilled to bring eSports to more fans on an expanding array of platforms.”