OTTAWA, Ontario — The demand is clearly there.
After the inaugural season as a founding member of Ontario Post-Secondary Esports (OPSE), a recent Carleton Ravens social media analytics report reveals how much students and Ravens fans love the new league.
Across all @curavens social media channels during the 2020/21 season, Ravens esports content from the four competing teams – Hearthstone, Overwatch, League of Legends, and Rocket League – earned 225k impressions and over 4500 engagements.
A perennial driver of social media success for team accounts is winning. The Ravens Hearthstone team was crowned champion after a Grand Finals match victory over St. Clair College. Ravens Overwatch took home their own hardware, finishing in third with a Bronze match win over Fanshawe College.
“We were delighted to be a part of bringing this exciting new league to life,” says Sheryl Hunt, Carleton Athletics Assistant Director of Marketing and Brand Strategy. “It gave valuable real-world experience to our students and also provided an opportunity for our students – studying locally and abroad online – to cheer for their Ravens and maintain school spirit. The feedback and social media numbers underline the larger interest in playing and viewing esports in a regional format which this league provides.”
Fans were actively tuned in to watch live OPSE matches throughout the entire year. All games were streamed on OPSE’s Twitch account with full play-by-play commentary. Over the course of the season, fans watched over 2.2 million minutes of esports action. The Hearthstone Grand Finals match was the league’s most viewed match, reaching a peak of 8722 concurrent live viewers. The OPSE Twitter account racked up 231k impressions in March during the playoffs and totalled more than 950k impressions over the entire season.
OPSE Commissioner James Fitzpatrick says he is extremely pleased with their digital metrics from the first year of competition. He says the league is looking at expanding the number of game titles available in the future which would allow them to attract more teams and competitive talent.
With a successful first season, potential expansion into new game titles, and a hopeful return to campus on the horizon, the upcoming fall is poised to further solidify esports as a major part of the Ravens student-fan experience and a new source of championship banners
