Technology

Prediction markets, such as those that exist in the realm of fantasy sports, have taken off amongst consumers in the last few years. But fantasy sports have yet to make much of a play in one of the hottest areas online right now, namely esports. And ita big market.

Fantasy esports have been thriving across international markets. In 2017, more than 360 million viewers watched League of Legends alone, significantly overtaking the Super Bowl viewership. By 2020, the esports industry is estimated to be worth more than $1.5 billion, with the target audience being 21-35 years old. But quite how to take advantage of this arena has been a conundrum.

Now a new startup thinks it has the answer. What if you could create a live predictions market around esports as it happens

Thatthe aim of WARD, a startup out of Berlin that has created a &pick and predict& real-time prediction smartphone game, where players can win real prizes.

Billed as a fantasy esports game that provides a second-screen real-time experience for tournaments, WARD has now secured a $600,000 seed round. The backers are Impulse VC, SmartHub and a number of European angel investors. The seed investment will be used to build out the product, but also to expand in the lucrative markets of Asia and the U.S.

So how does it work Well, fans who watch a championship or a specific esports game can predict their version of in-game events in real-time. So, for example, in the League of Legends game, a user can make a prediction about who will spill &first blood& or which team will destroy the first tower in the game, and so on.

For every prediction users make correctly, they are awarded points. Users who acquire the most points can top the leaderboard and go on to win prizes. These can include headphones, tickets for championships and signed merchandise such as team jerseys. Of course, this depends on the partner paying WARD to be featured. But, the more the user wins, the better prizes they get and the bigger the brand uplift for the team or sponsor.

Kirill Belov, managing partner at Impulse VC, says he was &stunned by the WARD technology, team and global vision. It is our first funding in the esports industry, and WARD is one of the best platforms to expand the scope of further investments.& High praise indeed.

WARD has so far run beta tests in Berlin based around the European League of Legends Championship Series, but the official launch is set for June 2018 with an aim to attract 3 million downloads by the end of the year.

The plans also include global expansion to Asia and adding new esports disciplines, such as Overwatch, CounterStrike (CSGO) to the app.

You can download the app here.

In April, YouTube TV confirmed rumors it was expanding its service by way of digital-only networks by launchingtwo news channels from Cheddar.The streaming service was also expected to roll out channels from Tastemade and The Young Turks soon, reports said — something YouTube TV hoped would differentiate its service from the now numerous live TV streaming rivals, while leveraging the power of big-name online brands to attract new subscribers.

On Thursday, YouTube TV alerted customers by way of email it had added new channels Tastemade and TYT, along with Cheddar and Cheddar Big News, which arrived earlier.

The company also confirmed the news in an interview with Variety, where the company explained how it saw this as the first step toward YouTube TV fulfilling its original promise of delivering a streaming service that combined traditional TV content with that from YouTube publishers.

Those efforts will continue, as YouTube TV says itin talks now with other partners to carry their digital media content on its network, too.

One challenge for YouTube TV in going about these new deals involves getting the publishers to craft unique content for its service — otherwise, the service could even blur the lines too much between YouTube proper, where some of the digital content may currently reside, and its paid, subscription-based TV service.

In Tastemade and TYTcase, the publishers committed to producing original shows for YouTube TV, equating to several hundred hours of programming for subscribers, Variety noted. That10 new series from Tastemade this year, and four from TYT Network at launch, with more to follow in 2018.

For the networks themselves, the deal allows them to reach new viewers who may have before only had minimal or no exposure to their content. And for Tastemade in particular, the channel will benefit from YouTube TVlack of food and travel channels — the service doesn&t carry Scripps/Discovery networks, which produce a lot of this type of content.

Despite the advantages with YouTube TV distribution, these digital publishers are by no means putting all their eggs in one basket — they expect to do similar deals with other over-the-top services. The Young Turks even just launched its own iOS app, following its $20 million raise last summer.

Samsung has been in the virtual reality (VR) game for some time now thanks to its partnership with Oculus for the Samsung Gear VR headset, but it looks like the tech giant could be preparing to launch a new wireless headset that uses both augmented reality (AR) and VR technology.

The news is interesting for a few reasons. While VR headsets have