Hitbox and Azubu merge to form new eSports broadcaster

The eSports live streaming market leaders Hitbox and Azubu have merged under the new Smashcast brand to present a challenge to Twitch, claiming that the new brand will be the largest independent eSports broadcaster outside Asia.

The new Smashcast platform is now live at http://www.smashcast.tv, and plans are in hand to make the product available as a free download app in the App Store and on Google Play.

All traffic formerly destined for either Hitbox or Azubu will be rerouted to the new Smashcast immediately, and mobile updates will automatically be reset to the updated company name and new brand.

Smashcast will launch with a viewer engagement feature – called the Hype-O-Meter – intended to let eSports fans cheer for their favourite team during tournaments while more tightly coupling the broadcaster-to-viewer connection.

Mike McGarvey, CEO of Smashcast said in a press statement Wednesday:

“Smashcast will launch with a new hype feature for viewer engagement which represents just the first step in our long-term vision to create the best broadcaster-to-viewer experience in the world of eSports and competitive gaming.”

Along with the launch of the new brand’s platform, Smashcast has announced the opening of 4K-ready content production studio in Vienna, Austria as a core component of the company’s forward-looking strategy to more fully integrate into the worlds of eSports and competitive gaming, and to ensure that not only its technology is first-rate but that the content streaming on the service is of the highest quality possible.

“The new Vienna production facility is a key next step for us in ensuring the quality of support we provide our broadcasting and publishing partners,” said Martin Klimscha, European managing director.
“We wanted specifically to ensure that we are differentiated from our competitors not only from our platform and technology excellence, which includes full 4K and 360 VR support, but from the quality of streaming content as well.”

Smashcast plans to monetise the more than 200 million global eSports fans in innovative ways, McGarvey says. Whereas today advertising represents 70 percent of revenue, with subscriptions and donations at 15 percent, the company is targeting new products in affiliate marketing, interactive sponsor-based advertising, virtual goods sales, sponsorships and in-game betting to close the gap in ARPU (average revenue per user) between the nascent eSports market and other, more traditional, professional sporting businesses around the world.

The combined companies making up Smashcast boasted a monthly active user peak around 20 million in 2016. The company is targeting significant growth in active viewership via a combination of improved broadcaster-to-viewer user experience; high-quality content produced in-house; and differentiated, lowest-cost technology solutions.