Activision (ATVI) Plans to Publish Live e-Sports Programming Exclusively on Facebook (FB)

(Updated - May 12, 2016 2:28 PM EDT)

Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) said planning to publish live programming on Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), according to the WSJ.

UPDATE - The announcement was made by the two companies at the NewFronts digital-media conference in New York today.

Activision is currently in talks with marketers over sponsoring e-sports programming.

Facebook will provide Activision with data on viewership and also help it build an audience for the video content.

Activision's broadcasts will be exclusive to Facebook and comes at a time when the popularity of e-sports is only growing.

The interest should be no surprise given that the value of the global video game market hovers around $100 billion. The WSJ noted that a "League of Legends" final match last October drew 36 million online and TV viewers.

Activision shares are up 2 percent on the session.

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