How ESL FACEIT Group Used 447+ Giveaways Over 10 Years to Power Esports Fan Engagement and Sponsor Activation
ESL FACEIT Group used Gleam giveaways across global esports tournaments to generate 29.5M actions, grow a 1M+ subscriber audience and drive sponsor engagement.
Author
Charlotte Czarnota
United Kingdom
Content Marketer
Products Used
Date of Publication
Results at a Glance
Over more than a decade of using Gleam, ESL FACEIT Group has built one of the most successful long-term giveaway programs in esports.
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We’ve been using Gleam for many many years and it has become a core part of our fan engagement strategy.
Oliver Brix
Senior Director of Marketing at ESL FACEIT Group
Over more than a decade of using Gleam, ESL FACEIT Group has built one of the most successful giveaway programs in esports.
They operate some of the world’s largest esports tournaments, attracting millions of viewers across global broadcasts.
But as esports audiences grow, the challenge becomes clear: how do you convert viewers watching a live stream into engaged fans who follow your channels, join your communities, and interact with sponsors?
Over the past decade, ESL has used Gleam to bridge that gap.
Giveaways promoted during broadcasts encourage viewers to participate in interactive campaigns that connect them with ESL’s ecosystem and its partner brands.
“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
As ESL’s tournaments expanded, sponsorship became a central part of the esports ecosystem. But sponsors wanted more than logo placement during broadcasts. They wanted measurable engagement.
Gleam allowed ESL to turn giveaways into a direct channel for sponsor interaction, encouraging fans to visit partner platforms, follow social channels, watch content and join communities.
“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
These campaigns encourage fans to engage with partners by visiting websites, following social channels, watching videos, joining communities or completing surveys.
A Self-Sustaining Giveaway Model
Another unique aspect of ESL’s strategy is that all giveaway prizes are supplied by sponsors, allowing them to run large campaigns without investing in prizes themselves.
“Every single prize in the giveaways comes from our brand partners, so we effectively invest zero into it ourselves.”
This creates a model where sponsors gain followers and engagement, while ESL benefits from deeper fan interaction and stronger partner relationships.
A Decade of Measurable Fan Engagement
Over more than ten years, ESL has run more than 447 giveaways across tournaments, events, and marketing campaigns.
In total, these campaigns have generated:
6.9 million impressions
29.5 million completed actions
1.27 million participants
31.99% average conversion rate
These numbers illustrate how giveaways can evolve from simple promotions into a long-term engagement engine.
For ESL, Gleam campaigns are now used regularly across their esports events to drive interaction with fans and partners.
Building a 1 Million Subscriber CRM Database
One of the most valuable outcomes of ESL’s long-term giveaway strategy has been the growth of its email marketing database.
Over time, Gleam campaigns have helped ESL build a newsletter list of more than one million subscribers.
This database feeds directly into ESL’s CRM and powers many of its marketing initiatives, including:
Tournament announcements
Merchandise promotions
Community updates
Oliver highlights the importance of this channel.
“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.”
For ESL, email marketing has become one of the most powerful owned channels for maintaining long-term relationships with esports fans.
IEM Krakow 2026 Giveaway
One example of ESL’s sponsor-activation approach was the IEM Krakow 2026 Giveaway, promoted during one of the world’s most iconic esports tournaments.
Campaign Results
11,285 impressions
68,326 actions completed
5,886 users
52.16% conversion rate
Participants entered the giveaway for a chance to win prizes from several ESL partners.
Fans could win prizes from partners including Intel, DHL, ZOWIE, Kolex and Red Bull, such as gaming hardware, CS2 starter boxes and IEM Cologne 2026 tickets.
All prizes were provided by ESL’s brand partners.
Multi-Brand Sponsor Engagement
ESL doesn’t run giveaways just to engage fans - they use them to deliver measurable value to sponsors.
Instead of offering passive brand exposure during broadcasts, ESL builds campaigns that actively push fans to interact with partner brands.
In this campaign, ESL directed users to complete actions across multiple sponsors, including:
Intel - driving traffic to gaming content and social channels
DHL - promoting branded content and campaign experiences
Kolex - generating app downloads and platform discovery
ZOWIE - growing newsletter subscribers and social followers
Chexx - expanding community engagement across social and Telegram
Red Bull - increasing reach across Instagram and TikTok
Each action moved beyond impressions and turned viewers into measurable outcomes for sponsors.
This is critical for ESL’s business model.
By showing that campaigns can generate:
ESL positions sponsorships as performance-driven investments, not just branding opportunities.
Instead of selling visibility, ESL delivers results.
That shift allows them to:
Strengthen partner relationships
Justify sponsorship value
And secure long-term commercial partnerships
A Global Audience
The campaign attracted participants from across the esports community worldwide, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, France, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Brazil, Spain, Italy and India.
This global reach highlights the international nature of esports fandom and the scalability of Gleam-powered campaigns.
Long-Term Impact
Over the past decade, Gleam has become deeply integrated into ESL’s marketing operations.
Campaigns support:
Fan engagement across tournaments
Social media growth
Newsletter acquisition
Sponsor activations
Global community participation
Oliver summarises the long-term value clearly.
“Easy to say that Gleam has indirectly delivered a lot of potential revenue to our business.”
Engaging Esports Communities With Giveaways
Esports fans are highly engaged audiences who love interacting with tournaments, teams, and gaming hardware.
Giveaways offer a natural way to channel that enthusiasm into actions that benefit both fans and brands.
By combining premium prizes, sponsor partnerships, and interactive campaigns, ESL has turned giveaways into a powerful engagement strategy.
Whether you’re running a gaming event, growing a community, or activating brand partners, giveaways remain one of the most effective ways to engage audiences.
With Gleam, you can:
Grow your social media following
Collect email subscribers
Drive traffic to partner platforms
Reward fans for engaging with your content
Run global campaigns in minutes
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