There has never been a direct path to becoming a professional gamer. The only true way to be discovered is to compete in countless qualifiers and amateur circuits, hoping that a pro-team takes notice. It takes as much luck as it does skill for amateur gamers to have a legitimate shot to earn a spot.

There is a distinct gap between amateurs and professional gamers and Mountain Dew was determined to bridge that gap.

MDL contests were streamed live on Twitch, giving fans the opportunity to tune-in and watch amateur e-athletes compete. The streams, were watched by over 2.6MM fans and featured some of the most well-known talent in the industry.

To keep MDL fans engaged throughout the course of the season, every week we produced a new piece of branded content highlighting the best teams, players, and matches from around the league. Content ranging from tips from pro-gamers to narrative highlighting amateur players, we told the entire story of these amateur players pursuing their dreams to become pro eSports athletes.

After a long regular season and play-off bracket, 8 teams from around the world qualified for the MDL Global Finals hosted in Burbank, California. Over the course of 4 days, these teams participated in a double elimination tournament for a cash prize pool of $50,000 and a spot among the best.

Mountain Dew League proved to be an instant hit with the community, reaching over 2.6MM viewers over the course of the season. However, the program truly hit its peak during the MDL Global Finals, surpassing viewership for some pro tournaments, where 1.7MM people tuned in over four days and watched over 400 thousand hours of content.

Overall, the campaign was a huge hit with the community, delivering content that was authentic to the space and massive reach:

• Over 600K Hours of content consumed

• Generated over 192MM Total Impressions

• 6.5MM Total Content Views

• 80% of viewers felt that MDL was authentic to competitive gaming

• 81% of the audience enjoyed the custom MDL content

• 57% of the MDL audience had a more favorable perception of Mountain Dew after watching

• 39% said they were more likely to purchase Mountain Dew after watching MDL