Youtube Scores $160 Million Esports Media Deal with Activision/Blizzard

More details about the deal between Activision/Blizzard and YouTube have surfaced.

The new Activision/Blizzard Esports media-rights deal with Youtube is valued at over $160M. This figure is projected over three years.

That is a lot of moolah, and according to official correspondents briefed on the terms of this brand-spanking-new deal. This carefully-calculated partnership with Google and the video game company will only continue to grow. Google and Activision Blizzard announced the new partnership late last month just before the Call of Duty League season started.

NEWS: YouTube reportedly paid Activision Blizzard over $160M for three year exclusivity for Overwatch League and Call of Duty League https://t.co/ePdaqVCFO8

— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) February 13, 2020

Our sources say that the $160M deal takes into account for every piece of major Activision/Blizzard (meaning Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Hearthstone). The last deal that Activision Blizzard had for just the Overwatch League was valued at $90M total over two full years.

The exact breakdown of how much each property contributes to the total payout from Google is not really known. But, through-the-wire sources say that the majority is going towards the Overwatch League. Meanwhile, a lesser but still notable amount going toward CDL. Hearthstone, as far as anyone can report, was a consolation prize for Youtube to tack onto this new deal.

The deal includes a large number of incentive clauses, mostly for ad sales and viewership targets. This is so that the money coming to the league and other teams could go up markedly. The incentive clauses are partially why some teams and other executives about the league have been happy with this new YouTube deal (although there has been no chance in the Overwatch League Twitch deal).