Mediapro makes eSports move

An eSports competitor

Spanish programmer Mediapro has taken a majority stake in Fandroid, the creator of the Spanish Liga de VideoJuegos Profesional (LVP) as part of move to professionalise and develop eSports in the country.

The LVP has over 250,000 registered users in the country and is expected to attract a total audience of over ten million unique viewers this year for its live streams, with over 20 million expected to view its events on-demand. The figures represent growth of about 30% year-on-year, according to Mediapro.

The LVP organises Gamergy, the major e-sports events in Spain which brings together over 30,000 participants for each of its events, which feature grand finals of the most popular e-sports games including League of Legends, Call of Duty and CS:Go.

The LVP also organizes a series of exclusive international events including Los Challengers of League of Legends, which will take place soon as part of the forthcoming Barcelona Games World event.

According to Mediapro, its acquisition of majority control of the LVP will bring technical, planning and strategic expertise to the development of content, additional sponsorship and marketing opportunities, as well as experitise in audiovisual production and sports rights.

With 15 million players, Spain is the fourth-largest European e-sports markets, behind the UK, Germany and France.

The news comes as MIPCOM organiser Reed Midem announces a new eSports industry event, to be held in Cannes, in February.