ESL FACEIT Group's IEM Krakow Giveaway Drew 5,886 Entrants

Between January 28 and February 10, 2026, viewers of the IEM Krakow broadcast were pointed to a Gleam giveaway where every prize came from a sponsor. 5,886 of them entered and completed 68,326 Actions, many of them for ESL’s partner brands.

It was one of more than 447 giveaways ESL FACEIT Group has run on Gleam over more than ten years. ESL runs Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) and other esports tournaments watched by millions, and it promotes its giveaways on the live broadcasts.

The problem ESL set out to solve was how to turn someone watching a stream into a fan who follows its channels, joins its communities and interacts with its sponsors. Giveaways were the answer, and it started with ESL’s own social channels.

“When we started on Gleam it was to find ways to use our broadcast to direct people towards our social media channels.”

Driving Measurable Sponsor Engagement

Sponsorship grew with ESL’s tournaments, and sponsors wanted more than a logo on the broadcast. They wanted engagement they could count. So ESL started building its giveaways around the sponsors’ channels too.

“As we advanced more in how we commercialize our content and products, we started utilizing Gleam as a way to show impact towards our sponsors and brand partners.”

“We wanted to show our partners that they don’t only get eyeballs on their logo and brand, but that we can directly turn our viewers into followers of their channels.”
Oliver Brix, Senior Director of Marketing at ESL FACEIT Group

In ESL’s giveaways, fans earn entries by visiting websites, following social channels, watching videos, joining communities or completing surveys. Each of those is a number ESL can hand a sponsor afterwards.

Zero Spent on Prizes

ESL’s brand partners supply every prize, so ESL runs its giveaways with no prize budget.

“Every single prize in the giveaways comes from our brand partners, so we effectively invest zero into it ourselves.”

Both sides get something. Sponsors get followers and engagement, and ESL gets fans who interact more and partners who come back.

Newsletter Sign-Ups for a 1M+ List

ESL also uses its giveaways to collect newsletter sign-ups, and over time they’ve built a list of more than one million subscribers.

The list feeds ESL’s CRM and goes out for:

• Tournament announcements

• Event ticket sales

• Merchandise promotions

• Partner campaigns

• Community updates

“Newsletters is an interesting topic, as we have used Gleam a lot to drive sign-ups for our own newsletters, and it’s played a major role in building our newsletter database of over 1 million users.”

IEM Krakow 2026 Giveaway

ESL promoted the IEM Krakow 2026 Giveaway during the tournament broadcast. It ran from January 28 to February 10, 2026, at esl.gg/iem-giveaway.

11,285 Impressions, 5,886 Entrants

11,285 Impressions became 5,886 Entrants, a 52.16% Conversion Rate. Those Entrants completed 68,326 Actions, about 11.6 each.

Intel, DHL, ZOWIE, Kolex, Chexx and Red Bull supplied the prizes, including two Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processors, five CS2 Undisputed Starter Boxes, four weekend tickets to the IEM Cologne Major 2026 and a year of Red Bull. ESL paid for none of them.

Six Sponsors in One Giveaway

ESL gave each partner brand Actions that matched what that brand wanted. The Actions table shows completions for four of them.

• Intel, traffic to its gaming content and social channels: 5,771 completions of the Intel Gaming website Action and 5,575 of its YouTube channel Action

• DHL, its branded content: four Actions, from the DHL MVP page (5,401) to a Workshop Map download (4,445)

• Kolex, app downloads and discovery of its platform: 5,226 completions of the Kolex.gg Action and 4,966 of its physical trading cards Action

• ZOWIE, newsletter subscribers and social followers: 5,096 clicks on Visit ZOWIE EU on YouTube

Sponsor Actions in ESL’s giveaways cover:

• Followers

• Traffic

• Signups

• App downloads

That changes what ESL is selling. A sponsor who gets 5,000+ visits to its site from one giveaway has a result to point to, so ESL can justify what the sponsorship costs, keep the partner happy and sign it up again.

13.23% of Entrants From the US

The United States sent the most Entrants (779, or 13.23% of 5,886), then the United Kingdom (459), Germany (429) and Poland (415). France, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Brazil, Spain, Italy and India followed.

447+ Giveaways in Ten Years

Krakow was one giveaway. Across more than 447 run over more than ten years, ESL’s giveaways have reached 6.9 million Impressions and 1.27 million Entrants, who completed 29.5 million Actions.

ESL runs them across its esports events for fan engagement at tournaments, social media growth, newsletter sign-ups, sponsor activations and community participation worldwide.

Revenue in Oliver’s Words

“Easy to say that Gleam has indirectly delivered a lot of potential revenue to our business.”

Key Growth Takeaways

ESL FACEIT Group has run more than 447 giveaways on Gleam, and in the IEM Krakow one every prize came from a sponsor. So what can you copy from ESL’s giveaways?

• Put the giveaway link on the broadcast. ESL promoted the IEM Krakow giveaway during the tournament broadcast and converted 52.16% of 11,285 Impressions into Entrants. If you stream live, show the link while people are watching.

• Let your sponsors supply every prize. Intel, DHL, ZOWIE, Kolex, Chexx and Red Bull supplied every prize, including four weekend tickets to the IEM Cologne Major 2026, and ESL paid for none of them. Offer sponsors Actions they can count in return for the prizes.

• Build each sponsor’s Actions around its goal. Kolex wanted app downloads and got 5,226 completions of its Kolex.gg Action, and Intel wanted traffic and got 5,771 website visits. Ask each sponsor what it needs to count before you build the widget.

• Send sponsors their numbers afterwards. A sponsor that gets 5,000+ visits to its site from one giveaway has a result to point to, which helps ESL sign it up again. Report each partner’s Action completions back to them when the giveaway closes.

• Add a newsletter Action every time. ESL’s giveaway sign-ups have built a newsletter list of over 1 million that now sells event tickets and merchandise. Put a sign-up Action in every giveaway so the list keeps growing.

Run Your Own Esports Giveaway

Start your own esports giveaway from our Esports Giveaway template.