FUTURE OF DIGITAL MARKETING
INTERVIEW: SCOTT BALL,
POKER PARTNERSHIPS
LEAD, TWITCH.TV
Scott Ball is Poker Partnerships Lead for Twitch.tv, the eSports live streaming platform now being used by
poker operators such as Unibet and PokerStars to share content and market the game to new audiences.
We caught up with Scott to find out how the relationship came about and Twitch’s strategy for helping online
poker thrive and grow again.
Twitch’s core audience lies in
eSports. When did the potential
of the platform for online poker
begin to become apparent, and
how did you become involved?
There’s a huge eSports event called
EVO [Evolution Championship Series]
which takes place in Las Vegas every
year. Essentially, it’s the fighting game
world championships. I have a very deep
relationship with [Dutch poker pro]
Marcel Lüske and some other poker folks,
and a few years ago, while I was working
in the eSports space, there was an after
party at EVO for all the pro gamers, and I
brought Marcel Lüske to the party. It was
actually on my birthday, so Marcel and
me were celebrating my birthday together.
He was just clicking so well with the
eSports pros, enjoying his time there, and
they were enjoying talking to him. The
Twitch guys were also watching this, and
said to me: “Hey, these guys are getting
along, maybe there’s something here.”
I said: “Yes, I definitely think there’s an
opportunity here.”
Poker after all is a game. It’s no different
from a lot of the other games. You sit on
a computer, clicking your mouse, making
the action, whatever that action is, just
as you play Starcraft, just it’s slower. So,
Twitch and I said: “Cool, let’s give it a
shot and see what happens.” I started out
as a contractor and they gave me a bit of
time to figure out if we can really make it
explode, and it worked out. I was officially
hired in November of last year. Now the
games continue to grow, the community
continues to really accept poker as a game
on Twitch, and the poker community has
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been absolutely thrilled to have Twitch.
It’s been such an amazing ride.
Are most of those watching the
streams and interacting with
the poker brands ۈ