CKH Innovations Opportunities Development to partner the MotoGP™ eSport Championship
A new three-year agreement with CKH Innovations Opportunities Development, a unit of CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings, sees the 3 Group brand partner up with one of the biggest competitions in the eSport landscape
Tuesday, 26 May 2020
Dorna Sports is delighted to announce a new three-year partnership with CKH Innovations Opportunities Development (CKH IOD), part of one of the world’s leading global mobile telecommunications and data services operators and a pioneer of mobile broadband technology. The agreement sees two of the leading 3 Group brand companies – 3 Austria and WINDTRE – become partners of the MotoGP™ eSport Championship from 2020 to 2022 – with the potential for other 3 Group companies to follow.
Since inception, the MotoGP™ eSport Championship has accrued more than 64 million video views online, 247 million impressions and over eight million engagements. Combining that with 20 Online Challenges and seven on-site events, the Championship has established itself as one of the biggest players in the gaming landscape.
In 2020, the 22 best gamers have now qualified to move through to the Draft Selection – the draft in which MotoGP™ teams can choose the gamer who will represent them throughout the Global Series onsite at events. Every corner of the planet is represented in the draft this season – from Indonesia to Brazil, Australia to the UK, Italy to Taiwan and many more.
WINDTRE will also be the main and title sponsor of the all-new Rising Stars Series, naming it the WINDTRE Rising Stars Series. Adding an eSport arm to Dorna Sports’ incredible portfolio of talent promotion programmes, the WINDTRE Rising Stars Series comprises four online challenges in which gamers qualify for three online races: one race for the 11 best gamers from the Americas, one pitting the best of European and African players against each other and one for the top racers from Asia and Oceania. An incredible opportunity, the three winners each secure a place in the 2021 MotoGP™ eSport Championship draft.
Joe Parker, CKH IOD CEO: “We are very glad to start this global MotoGP Gaming & eSports cooperation with Dorna as a new step in this exciting and top growing digital products category. The partnership will give us the opportunity to show our customers how the Three Group’s high speed networks will support them in enjoying the best, seamless and immersive gaming and entertainment experiences.”
Gianluca Corti, Chief Commercial Officer, WINDTRE: “We are happy to cooperate with Dorna to enable a new, exciting entertainment activity like eSports on two wheels, with a community of active players and viewers that continues to grow. A ‘high-speed’ competition that needs high-quality connections and that will experience an exponential development with the arrival of 5G. For this reason, the new single brand WINDTRE, with its 5G ready ‘Top Quality Network’, is a right partner to successfully face this challenge.”
Pau Serracanta, Managing Director, Dorna Sports: “We’re very happy to be able to announce this agreement with an international company such as CKH IOD, who have a huge presence in so many markets. The MotoGP eSport Championship is already growing at an amazing rate and this agreement will only help us to grow even more.”
About CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings
CK Hutchison Group Telecom is a geographically diverse telecommunications operator in six European markets (Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, UK) as well as Hong Kong and Macau. At the end of 2019, the company and its subsidiaries, together with CK Hutchison’s interests in Hutchison Asia Telecom Group, have over 100 million registered customers worldwide.
