Riot Games Explains The Inner Workings of Esports Broadcasts for a Modern Audience

Following the recent League of Legends World Championship event in London, Riot Games sat down in an interview to talk about all things broadcasting. During this interview, Riot’s Sam Kordower Chaimson, the executive broadcast producer for Worlds, explained what the gaming titan is doing to push content to a modern and increasingly demanding audience.

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‘It’s Worthwhile to Support All Those Fans’

In a recent interview with SVG Europe, Kordower Chaimson explained that Riot Games is constantly adjusting its operating model to account for an ever-changing audience. Most recently, the broadcast team started producing a 9:16 stream – a vertical format – to accommodate those watching on platforms like TikTok.

It’s all about bringing as many viewers to the action as possible, and that’s only made a reality by fully diversifying how content can be consumed.

Kordower Chaimson drew key comparisons to ‘traditional’ sports and referenced a bold waking up to the versatility and accessibility of esports broadcasts:

I think traditional sports and traditional media are starting to clue into the fact that fans have different ways of engaging and at Riot we think it’s worthwhile to support all those fans, wherever they are.

Whether they’re watching a more traditional sport editorial broadcast like some of our main language feeds using our traditional broadcast apparatuses, or they’re watching one of our co-streamers, or they’re watching in another language using a broadcaster that may have a little bit more irreverent content, fans are choosing to engage with our sport in the way they engage with everything else.

As Kordower Chaimson puts it, Riot is busy trying to ‘serve a core fan experience’, and to do that, the company must ‘tailor its content to resonate with them and to reward them’.

Riot Games boasts one of the most tried, tested, and reliable broadcast infrastructures in the esports world. In 2022, the company opened two new remote broadcast centres as part of ‘Project Stryker’, one in Dublin, Ireland, and the other in Seattle. These facilities rival the tech-focused buildings backed by some of the world’s most powerful television broadcast companies.

Kordower Chaimson dipped into the emotional scenes that can unfold on a grand stage like the League of Legends World Championship:

It’s about marrying that hyper empathetic, hyper real personal experience with the spectacle of a top tier sporting event. I don’t think we lean too much into adhering to traditional editorial practises intentionally, but it’s about marrying the two. You obviously have natural advantages.

A big venue is pretty and beautiful and exciting, but it’s also a unique time to showcase our amazing community and our fans. It’s about celebrating the people around you that play the game. It’s about celebrating that comradery and those shared experiences we have, and that’s really special.

Do you think traditional sports broadcasts and esports events are becoming closer aligned, or are they still unique? Let us know on the Insider Gaming forum.

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