Summary
In the first half of 2024, Frost Esports saw strong participation in Rocket League and Multiversus events, while pausing Valorant events for a strategic revamp. Broadcasts improved with higher average viewers, particularly for Blizzard and Polar Flare, and The Meltdown shifted to YouTube VoD due to scheduling conflicts. Social media engagement peaked in June on Twitter, and Discord saw growth in key roles, while Twitch followers steadily increased. Financially, new sponsorships and partnerships boosted revenue, enabling increased staff pay.
Events + Operations Overview:
Rocket League events like Blizzard and Polar Flare saw significant participation, with Blizzard averaging 164.7 participants per event.
Valorant events paused to revamp, while Multiversus made a strong return with Frostiverse averaging 279.8 participants per event.
Staffing changes included terminating roles that didn't align with new operational strategies for better growth and efficiency.
Broadcast Overview:
Blizzard had 26.3 average viewers, with a focus on improving stream visuals.
Polar Flare tested new broadcast styles with an average of 59 viewers.
The Meltdown shifted to pre-recorded VoD on YouTube due to scheduling conflicts and illness.
Social Media Overview:
Twitter engagement peaked in June with a 6.3% engagement rate and 1,630 total engagements.
Discord saw steady growth, with Rocket League and SSBU roles showing significant increases.
Twitch followers grew steadily, with average viewers peaking at 52 in February.
Content focus on The Meltdown, but no uploads in May and June due to scheduling issues.
Financial Overview:
Q1 revenue: $3,720 from sponsorships, partnerships, and League Trolli.
Q2 revenue: $3,940 from League Trolli and Pockets League, leading to increased staff pay and first owner payouts since April 2023.
Expenses: Production costs increased in Q2, with total expenses for Q1 at $2,203 and Q2 at $2,784.
3-Month Look Ahead:
Frost Esports is effectively managing a balance between quality enhancement and financial prudence.
The need for innovative event monetization and diversified revenue streams is evident.
Continuous adaptation to changing market conditions and internal dynamics is essential for achieving long-term success and market dominance.
Events + Operations Summary
Events:
Rocket League:
Blizzard
Average | 164.7 Participants per Event
Total | 3,788 Participants + 1,214 Teams
Frostbite
Average | 44.1 Participants per Event
Total | 397 Participants
Snowstorm
Average | 81 Participants per Event
Total | 324 Participants + 95Teams
Polar Flare
Average | 218.3 Participants per Event
Total | 873Participants + 289 Teams
Valorant:
Whiteout
Average | 78.4 Participants per Event
Total | 862 + 158 Teams
SSBU:
Smu5h
Average | 118.1 Participants per Event
Total | 3,070 Participants
Multiversus:
Frostiverse
Average | 279.8 Participants per Event
Total | 1119 Participants
Frostiverse of Madness (1 Event)
Total | 725 Participants
Operations:
Operational Shift: Using data from our first 4 months of 2024 operations, we decided to make a gradual shift in our overall operations. While there was no negative financial motivation for this shift, our time as owners was not being used properly. We were focused solely on small scale, week-to-week operations instead of large-scale growth of our brand.
Event Shift: We paused all Valorant events in order to create a new program that provides more to the players. We also swapped our 1s Rocket League event for a fast-paced 3s event. Lastly, Multiversus made a quick return bolstering our numbers and overshadowing our Valorant turnout.
Staffing Changes: To match our operational shift, we dialed back on roles that either didn't align with this new path or were taking time away from effective growth and planning. We terminated our Creative Director, Community and Content Creator Program Roles. These roles, while made sense at the time, created an extra communication layer between our goals and fruition of said goals.
Broadcast + Social Media Summary
Broadcasts:
Blizzard:
Average Viewers | 26.3
We spent some time in Q1 polishing our base broadcast offering including visuals on stream.
Polar Flare:
Average Viewers | 59
We were able to test various stream styles including rotating talent within a singular event. We will use this events larger budget to test new styles + event segments.
The Meltdown
Our live broadcasts for this show were not much to gawk at. We instead shifted to a Streamed Pre-Recorded VoD on YouTube. Due to scheduling conflicts and illness, this series was paused for May + June.
Social Media:
Twitter
Month | Followers | Engagement Rate | Total Engagement | Impressions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
January | 7480 | 4.1% | 510 | 29900 |
February | 7466 | 3.1% | 1612 | 114700 |
March | 7481 | 3.1% | 973 | 76200 |
April | 7467 | 3.8% | 1347 | 79400 |
May | 7412 | 4.9% | 2367 | 89000 |
June | 7483 | 6.3% | 1630 | 55000 |
Discord
Month | Members | Rocket League Role | Valorant Role | SSBU Role | Multiversus Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
January | 11347 | 505 | 287 | 402 | 0 |
February | 11464 | 820 | 336 | 499 | 0 |
March | 11520 | 997 | 363 | 671 | 0 |
April | 11627 | 1,181 | 402 | 767 | 0 |
May | 11700 | 1,200 | 450 | 900 | 0 |
June | 12667 | 1,500 | 514 | 1158 | 865 |
Twitch
Month | Followers | AVG Viewers | Peak Viewers | Unique Viewers | Minutes Watched |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
January | 9378 | 23 | 49 | 873 | 15462 |
February | 9606 | 52 | 556 | 2037 | 50165 |
March | 9845 | 20 | 47 | 986 | 17653 |
April | 9952 | 23 | 133 | 1075 | 22683 |
May | 10044 | 41 | 126 | 1460 | 33596 |
June | 10122 | 30 | 78 | 1777 | 25448 |
YouTube + TikTok
We tested various types of content across YouTube and TikTok primarily focused around our show, The Meltdown. Due to illness and scheduling issues, May and June had zero uploads across both channels.
Month | TikTok Followers | TikTok Engagement Rate | YouTube Subscribers | YouTube Views |
|---|---|---|---|---|
January | 344 | 6.15% | 0 | 1 |
February | 342 | 1.86% | 5 | 148 |
March | 337 | 1.75% | 11 | 20700 |
April | 335 | 5.09% | 12 | 36000 |
May | 335 | 6.44% | 15 | 79 |
June | 335 | 6.12% | 16 | 19 |
Finances Summary
Revenue:
Q1 and Q2 introduced a new partner to Frost Esports, Hot Pockets. This new revenue allowed us to explore new revenue paths as well as reward longtime staff with a pay increase.
$2,120 from various sponsorships and partnerships, $1,600 from League Trolli itself. This does not include prize pool funding powered by sponsors/partners.
A majority of this extra revenue was used to fund a brand refresh, graphics and explore video monetization paths.
$3,940 from League Trolli and Pockets League.
This spike in revenue allowed us to increase staff pay as well as begin to payout owners for the first time since April 2023.
Expenses:
Q1 and Q2 also had a spike in expenses as we attempted to balance the books by brining on GFX/VFX experts and paying our staff more, with an increase in admin cost of almost $1000 in Q2.
Production: $1,005
Admins: $313
Marketing: $885
Production: $1,446
Admins: $1,277
Marketing: $615
3-Month Look Ahead
Events:
While we maintain a consistent rotation of our secondary event offerings, we anticipate a revitalization of our VALORANT events come September. We'll push some teasers this summer but anticipate a 15 week "League-Style" event series, designed to showcase the individual talent within the T3 scene.
Revenue:
This summer, we also are actively working on building out our revenue streams. One stream, which should launch early September, involves the refurbishment of our website and the consolidation of all of our offerings under the frostesports.gg domain.
We thank you for reading this far and look forward to the next 6 months of events, content and competitors here at Frost Esports!
-Matt "Maverick" Reilly
Director of Operations, Frost Esports
Comments