by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

The Archon Team League Championships has just finished its first phase! As we near to its Live Finale from the Team Archon Gaming House, I want to discuss the tremendous success of this event, and attempt to break down the key factors that lead to this tournament being one of the most watched in recent memory.

Knowing your Audience

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons that ATLC has found so much success is that their content is tailored specifically to the Hearthstone Audience. The bulk of the Hearthstone viewers are pretty casual, and I’m betting they care more about the personalities of the players, how they react to unlucky situations, and even about the team’s social dynamics. I remember RDU mentioning on his stream that on weeks were he didn’t do so well, people asked him how it felt to be carried by Lifecoach. But when RDU did well and Lifecoach didn’t, viewers of his stream asked him how it felt to have to carry his teammates.

But it’s not just the players, additional content like those interview videos where the players talk about certain cards, and things like the versus screens before each match, fit right into the Hearthstone Community.

Even before the tournament started, the promotional posters and teaser videos were sure to make the audience feel at home. From day 1, Amaz and his crew have promised to produce the kind of content what we wanted to see, and he has delivered in spades. The Hype around a Quarter Million Dollars prize pool doesn’t hurt either.

From the popularity of invited players and casters, to their Team Format, the Archon Team League Championship has correctly modeled itself after the preference of theHearthstone Community.

A Strong Lead-up

You can’t look at the success of ATLC and ignore the fact that it is hosted on Amaz’s Channel. Amaz’s Twitch has over HALF A MILLION followers. Not only that, but Amaz has consistently streamed before the tournament to build up an audience. We all know the importance of being on top on Twitch, having lots of viewers gets you more visibility, and having more visibility nets you more viewers.

Amaz understands these Twitch Dynamics and he has greatly used them to his advantage.

Minimizing Competition

But getting a strong lead-up on a hugely popular channel isn’t the only trick that Amaz has up his sleeve. When you look at a ATLC match, it lasts for a few hours, and it involves 6 big-name players, most of which have strong followings. These 6 players cannot be streaming for the duration of the match, which reduces the competition that ATLC faces. On top of these 6 players, ATLC also has a rotating 3-seat casting booth that can feature very popular names. That’s 3 more people that can’t really be streaming head-to-head against ATLC.

I don’t know if this is part of Amaz’s masterplan, or if its just a lucky top deck. The fact of the matter is that most tournaments wish they didn’t have to compete for viewers against guys like Forsen, Trump, Kolento, Strifecro, and Kripparian.

Optimizing the Timeslot

Timeslots are another thing to consider when evaluating the success of the Archon Team League Championships.  The Archon League goes live at 1 PM Eastern/10AM Pacific, which is an accessible time for most people in the Americas Region. But maybe more importantly, that is also 7 pm Central European Time, which is kind of a perfect timeslot for most of our EU friends.

But it’s not only the original airing, ATLC rebroadcasts its matches right after the live show finishes. And with the average day of ATLC clocking at 4 hours, this means that the rebroadcast goes live at about 5PM Eastern/2pm Pacific. Which is a better time for the North and Latin American audience.

Since each of the Live Airing and the Immediate replay are in a good timeslots for one of the two major markets it targets, Amaz’s Channel stays at the top of Twitch Rankings throughout the day, adding a lot of visibility to the tournament.

If you compare this with the HPL which starts it’s live broadcast past midnight in Europe, and has an immediate replay that will probably start around 4-5 AM. It’s easy to see how the Archon League has an inherent advantage because of its timeslot. The ATLC is extremely accessible for both the American and European viewer!

The Archon Team League has set a new standard for success in Hearthstone eSports, and there’s a lot of lessons to be learned from this production.

Have I missed some of the keys to their success? Let me know using the comment section below!