VENN Might Be the Esports MTV

On Tuesday, Sep. 17th, gaming industry veterans Ben Kusin (EA, Vivendi Games) and Ariel Horn (Riot Games) announced the intended 2020 launch of a new gaming and esports post-cable network. Dubbed the Video Game Entertainment and News Network, or VENN, the network is intended to fill a more-or-less empty spot in current live gaming and esports programming. VENN’s official site describes the network as follows:

VENN is a new 24/7 post-cable network aimed at gaming, esports and entertainment audiences. Launching in 2020 and broadcasting live from studios in New York and Los Angeles, VENN will be distributed across a broad range of media platforms and offer original programming produced in-house and in partnership with some of the biggest names and creators across industries.

VENN raised $17m USD in seed round funding, with multiple big-name investors stepping forward, including BITKRAFT Esports Ventures, Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill, and Blizzard Entertainment co-founder and former president Mike Morhaime. The network, which has taken obvious inspiration from MTV in both intent and eye-popping neon-colored design, speaks of an aim to centralize a rather fragmented marketplace with no real unified media base.

Esports is an industry that has seen rapid growth in the past few years, with a report from Newzoo projecting that it will top $1.1b USD in revenue by the end of 2019, crossing the billion-dollar mark for the first time. Yet all of this revenue is spread across so many platforms and media that attempting to provide a constant, ambient stream of esports content is a fairly ambitious, although not unprecedented, goal. VENN notes that it expects to provide about 55 hours of original programming per week, consisting of gaming live streams, talk shows, esports events, and even documentaries or potentially movies.

VENN will launch in 2020; stay tuned for any further updates on the possible next step for esports.