• by Tameka Kee , June 6, 2007

With its announced acquisition of PC-based gaming news source GotFrag.com, Major League Gaming (MLG) aims to gain exposure to a host of new advertisers, and to introduce a new segment of the competitive gaming community to its network of editorial, video and social media content.

MLG's portfolio of sites already accounts for some 80% of page views in the competitive gaming category, according to Hitwise. Advertising partners in the MLG network currently include Boost Mobile, Gamestop, Redbull and others, and the acquisition will now also expose them to GotFrag.com's reported 700,000 unique monthly visitors.

Its no surprise that MLG's user base is largely male and relatively young, offering marketers the opportunity to reach the coveted 12- to-34-year-old demographic on a number of distribution touchpoints, from broadband to mobile Web to national television.

"We believe that in-game advertising is just one small component of embracing the gaming community at large," said Mike Sepso, chairman, MLG. "With MLG, advertisers can fully integrate with competitive gamers, from 30-second spots in our TV programs, to video and display ads on the Web, to sponsorship of a tournament."

The crux of MLG's competitive gaming influence stems from its six-city Pro Circuit, a televised tournament in which video gamers compete, and also from being the connection hub where online gamers can set up formal matches on Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation multi-player networks.

In addition to the GotFrag.com acquisition, MLG has made management changes to channel its growth and "scale to a larger, younger audience." Co-founder and CEO Mike Sepso has moved to chairman, while former COO and president Matt Bromberg assumes the role of CEO.