Global tournament operator BLAST has expanded its reach to China through a new broadcast deal with Chinese livestreaming platform DouYu. According to a release, DouYu will receive “exclusive streaming rights in the Mandarin language in China.”
The current announcement is specific to the BLAST Premier 2020 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. BLAST recently expanded its competition offering to include Dota 2, a game that has a large following and competitive player base in China.
Chinese streaming platforms have been looking to Western organizations and companies to meet their growing content needs and DouYu and its largest competitor Huya continue to see steady growth in monthly active users. Most recently, Huya signed a multi-year sponsorship and streaming deal with Team Secret (which is best known for its Dota 2 team).