Porn website YouPorn is looking for ways to promote its brand, and what it has settled on is to sponsor a professional video game, or eSports, team.
The site made waves earlier this year when it took to Twitter to gauge response to the idea of a YouPorn-branded team that would compete in popular eSport titles like League of Legends, Dota 2 and Hearthstone. Now YouPorn tells Polygon that a team deal has almost been reached, with the porn company hoping to go public with the news "very soon."
YouPorn marketing director Braden Burns says because of the pornographic nature of the YouPorn brand, making marketing partnerships like sponsoring an esports team can be challenging.
"There is no question about it," Burns tells Polygon. "Being an established adult brand, the stigma surrounding our industry is something we have to deal with all the time. It's nothing new to us, and we've never let it stop us before. If anything, it forces us to explore and be more creative in our marketing efforts than any mainstream companies."
While it may sound strange at first, it makes a lot of sense. Sponsored teams help build awareness for brands in what is quickly becoming an incredibly large spectator sport. The League of Legends 2014 World Championships over the weekend saw the Samsung sponsored team, Samsung White, take home a $1 million prize, with thousands watching in person and millions watching online. Every one of those viewers had the word "Samsung" on their lips.
YouPorn says it will act like any other eSports team sponsor, supporting their team financially and through marketing.
"We've got a lot of resources at our disposal," Burns says. "As far as what we can offer that other sponsors can't goes, is exposure. Any player or team that signs with us will not only garner a lot of media attention, but will also be actively promoted to a captive audience of 20 million visitors every day."
The website has already redesigned the team jerseys, and says they are tailoring their brand specifically for the audience of people who play eSports games and watch game streams on Twitch.
Team YouPorn will have their work cut out for them if they want to rise to eSports prominence. After all, they will be the new kids on the block. But with the financial support of YouPorn, expect the team to make waves when it splashes onto the eSports scene.
