Los Angeles, CA, July 9, 2014 – Machinima, the leading global video entertainment network for videogamers and fanboys, today announced a new slate of programming on its hugely successful Twitch channel (Twitch.tv/Machinima). Since launch, Machinima LIVE has proven to be one of the fastest growing channels on Twitch, with over 24.6MM views and over 159K channel follows. After the huge success of the first seasons of “Chasing the Cup” and “Deck Wars,” Machinima LIVE has developed a quality list of programming which includes brand new seasons of both shows as well as incorporating popular talent from its YouTube channel network.
“Machinima has quickly established a strong and growing presence on the Twitch platform, illustrating the appeal of quality gaming content that leverages live video,” said Kevin Lin, COO of Twitch. “The community is consuming a lot of Machinima content so we’re looking forward to seeing more of their premium programming.”
The first season of “Chasing the Cup” was a 10 episode reality series that documented the two highest ranked League of Legends teams in North America, Cloud9 (C9) and Team SoloMid (TSM). It follows them during the regular season of the League of Legends Championship Series, the biggest gaming championship in the world, capturing team structure, training regimen, management, and player interaction to give a “behind-the-scenes” reality angle to the lives of professional gamers. The series garnered millions of views, with 301,961 total hours watched, and proved to be one of the first successful VOD-to-Live executions on the Twitch platform. Over 45K audience members tuned in simultaneously to watch the finale, which set the record for any Machinima LIVE program. Season 2 of “Chasing the Cup” is set to launch August 1, and will again feature Cloud9 as well as a new team, Counter Logic Gaming (CLG).
Another staple on Machinima LIVE is “Deck Wars”, a show-match series based around Blizzard’s new interactive card game Hearthstone. “Deck Wars’” 12 episode arc leads up to an exciting season finale tournament. Over the course of the finale weekend, viewership peaked at over 35K simultaneous viewers and held a stable 25K throughout the course of the two-day broadcast. Machinima LIVE reached over 1.1 million live views over the course of the tournament as well as over 20M minutes watched. Season 2 of “Deck Wars” launched in early June, and will deliver new episodes every Wednesday at 10:30AM PST, leading up to the season finale onSeptember 20-21.
Machinima LIVE also recently live-streamed the premiere of its hit series “Street Fighter Assassin’s Fist”, and received over 260K views, with over 1.3MM minutes watched.
“Twitch has become a valuable partner for us,” said Lester Chen, Director of Live Programming for Machinima. “As one of the fastest growing channels, we’re grateful that our fans enjoy the programming we’ve rolled out and are determined to continue delivering quality content. We’re excited to launch new seasons of what they love, and deliver more live programming around the gamers they enjoy watching — we’re always listening to what the fans want!”
In addition to bringing back some existing shows, Machinima will bring over many of its major YouTube stars and incorporate their live gameplays into its second wave of LIVE programming. Machinima’s network talent will bridge the gap between their already successful video uploads on their YouTube channels and Live audiences via Machinima LIVE.
