NEW YORK, Dec. 6, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Major League Gaming (MLG), the world's largest competitive video game league, today announced the 2011 Pro Circuit season was the largest season in e-sports history reaching more than 3.5 million unique stream viewers during combined Pro Circuit weekends. The recent 2011 Pro Circuit National Championships held in Providence, Rhode Island, November 18-20, drew an all-time high of 241,000 peak concurrent online viewers and more than 3.6 million hours of video were consumed over the weekend. Viewers from 175 countries tuned in to the final tournament, the highest numbers of countries to date. The top five countries watching included USA, Germany, Canada, Sweden and United Kingdom. Over the 2011 season, more than 15 million hours of video were consumed during Pro Circuit weekends.
Pulling data from Nielsen's rating system based on a networks' season to date average quarter hour, MLG Pro Circuit viewing in the 18-24 male demographic ranked ahead of top cable networks.
"Our viewership numbers this year have been staggering and MLG now pulls in larger audiences than several traditional television cable networks," said Sundance DiGiovanni, CEO, Major League Gaming. "Our LIVE streams of the Pro Circuit National Championships garnered more 18-24 male viewers than Comedy Central, MTV, TBS, and FX draw in an average quarter hour and nearly as many as Adult Swim."
The National Championships delivered the fifth consecutive record breaking online broadcast of the season. More than 16,000 spectators attended the final tournament in person and 97,000 people attended Pro Circuit competitions in 2011. Traffic to www.majorleaguegaming.com for 2011 Pro Circuit weekends was also up 225 percent from 2010 with an average of 641,000 unique visitors to the site each weekend.
The six-city 2011 MLG Pro Circuit placed the most talented video game players alongside their toughest opponents as they battled for more than $1 million in prizes, the largest prize pool to date. The 2011 season traversed the US with Pro Circuit competitions in Dallas, TX (April 1-3), Columbus, OH (June 3-5), Anaheim, CA (July 29-31), Raleigh, NC (August 26-28), Orlando, FL (October 14-16) and National Championships in Providence, RI (November 18-20).
MLG worked with Streamworks, the global, end-to-end streaming company that delivers a superior video experience across any network to any device, to deliver uninterrupted 720p high definition, high-quality video streams of the competitions. Pro Circuit competitions and rebroadcasts of all matches are available on MLG.tv.
About Major League Gaming:
Founded in 2002, Major League Gaming (MLG) (www.majorleaguegaming.com) is the dominant media property exclusively targeting tens of millions of consumers worldwide who have a passion for playing video games as a competitive social activity. The company gives aspiring gamers around the world an opportunity to compete, improve their skills, and socialize through a thriving competitive community with more than 750,000 matches each month online and LIVE in-person Pro Circuit tournaments in cities nationwide. MLG broadcasts all Pro Circuit play via LIVE streaming online to hundreds of thousands of fans in more than 170 countries. MLG also provides extensive online editorial and video content to more than 8 million unique fans each month including LIVE and on-demand original programming related to games, technology and more at MLG.tv and MLG Live.
For more information, press only:
Katie Goldberg - Major League Gaming, VP Communications and PR
P: 917-338-2391
kgoldberg@mlgpro.com
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