High spectator numbers are a rarity in the Virtual Bundesliga Club Championship and among the participating clubs. A purely sporting focus is not enough, or so the belief at VfL Bochum goes. The club is taking a more modern approach to the problem.
“The numbers are manageable on match days. That’s why we want to present ourselves in a more entertaining way on our Twitch channel,” says Michael Fischer, team leader of the Bochum eSports department, indicating the club’s direction of travel.
After several years in which the VfL’s streams were in the double digits, they are now rethinking: “We previously believed that we could build up reach with purely sports-oriented streams. Percentage-wise we grew super, but percentage-wise at a low level.”
The new solution is called Content Creator. The club welcomed Janina ‘Akkcess’ Blechinger and Maurice ‘Blacki’ Aliu at the start of the FIFA 22 season. Both are not supposed to improve the team’s performance, but the stream’s performance.
That’s what they are experts at. ‘Akkcess’ and ‘Blacki’ have been streaming on the Twitch platform for several years – both averaging a few hundred viewers. VfL will be hoping for similar numbers.
More than just VBL content
To do this, ‘Akkcess’ and ‘Blacki’ host so-called channel takeovers. This means: they stream their usual content on the club’s Twitch channel. Potentially, the fans jump over and thereby let the numbers skyrocket.
In addition, ‘Akkcess’ is also expected to liven up the VBL broadcasts and appear in other entertainment formats such as a tour of the eSports shared apartment. ‘Blacki’, meanwhile, brings along his own tournament series, the Blacki Cups – a decisive argument for the Berliner.
“When I heard about the chance to sign him, I immediately took notice,” Fischer classifies the newcomer. Aliu would have established himself as a very important person in the scene. His tournaments have international reach and appeal. The fact that he will be broadcasting a few of his Cups in the name of VfL in future is a correspondingly big gain for the club.
Are other Bundesliga clubs following suit?
Although the viewer numbers of VfL Bochum have already risen roughly in the first few months since the two content creators were engaged, an evaluation of the success of the project is still pending – it is simply too early for that.
In addition, the effect of the content creators will probably become particularly apparent in the phases of a FIFA season when the VBL is at rest. Instead of their own channel being deserted, the content creators can then step in to keep the fans happy.
This practice is already in place at Werder Bremen. Like VfL Wolfsburg, the VBL double champions have stepped up their streaming activities in the past year. The two clubs from Germany’s north rely on slightly adapted concepts but, like VfL Bochum, attribute great importance to streaming.
Fischer now suspects a chain reaction: “I assume that soon every Bundesliga club that is involved in eFootball will have a content creator.” The club had already taken the lead with the coaching issue. Now VfL Bochum wants to be a pioneer once again.
