Pick'em is the highest-engagement, lowest-supply ad surface in esports. Five to fifteen minutes of active engagement per fan. Opt-in first-party data on every entry. PROPHET packages it as a sponsor-ready activation across CS2, Valorant, LoL, Dota 2, and R6 — at tier-2 events where you can actually buy the inventory.
Esports brands have lost iOS 14.5 attribution, cookie-based retargeting, and most of their measurable surfaces. What's left is banner CPM with sub-second dwell. Pick'em is the opposite shape of ad: opt-in, active, multi-day, and inherently measurable.
Pick'em is one product that delivers all four in a single integration. Not four campaigns. Not four agencies. One opt-in engagement surface, one report, one renewal conversation.
Pick'em is an active session — read the matches, pick the outcomes, return for results. Across a 12-day tournament, a typical user opens the page 4–7 times. Compared to banner CPM at 0.3-second dwell, that's roughly 50× the engagement window on the same audience.
Pick'em entry requires an account. Every participant becomes opt-in first-party data — verified email, age, region, favorite team, game preference. Exactly the data set cookie deprecation and iOS 14.5 took away. Yours to retarget, seed lookalikes, or pass to CRM.
Pick'em players index higher than viewers on intent and spend — they're the engaged minority who care enough to predict outcomes. This is the audience your CMO has been asking the agency to find on Meta or YouTube for three quarters and getting nothing back.
Branded ROI report inside five business days of event end: picks per CPM, watch-time uplift, opt-in lift, branded-category click-through. Designed to drop straight into your internal sponsorship review. The renewal conversation is half-written before you start it.
Every major publisher runs pick'em. Every tier-1 event ships one (and breaks it). The activation slot under it isn't new — it's been quietly sold inside Riot, ESL, and BLAST for half a decade. PROPHET makes it buyable at the tier where you actually have inventory access.
Riot's Worlds Fantasy pick'em in 2023 had 12 million+ registered players globally. That's the upper bound — proof the format converts at scale. Tier-2 events do 1–3% of that volume, which is still 100–400k entrants on a single tournament. Your activation rides that surface, opt-in, fully tracked.
Logitech G title-sponsored VCT Game Changers. HyperX sponsors ESL prize pools. Razer + Mercedes-EQ Formula E pick'em (2022). The format has been live for non-gambling brands — it's just been bundled inside publisher sponsorships rather than sold as standalone inventory.
Shikenso 2025: nearly half of esports sponsors say they cannot measure activation ROI on the inventory they already buy. Pick'em is the prototypical measurable activation — picks per CPM, watch-time uplift, branded-category click-through, opt-in lift. Sponsors want it. Until now, nobody packaged it for tier-2.
Bayes Esports filed insolvency in September 2025. GRID inherited the data assets, leaving the activation layer conspicuously thin across tier-2 and tier-3. Mid-market TOs need a new engagement product this season — your activation budget is what funds it for them.
We don't ask brands to commit cash before the event is named. That's not how Q3 budget approval works inside Logitech, HyperX, Red Bull, or any peer activation desk. The first step is a conditional commitment letter — budget ceiling and category preferences, contingent on a specific tournament getting your team's signoff.
You take it to your internal review pre-approved. We take it to tournament organizers as a fast-tracked sponsor commitment. The event lands in 4–6 weeks instead of 4–6 months — because budget was the bottleneck, not creative or contracting.
Once the event is named and your team signs off, it converts to a standard SOW with the 50/50 performance terms. Until then, no money moves, no inventory locks. Walkable either side, anytime before the SOW.
Brand activation in 2026 dies in legal review more often than in the pitch. PROPHET is built to pass procurement on the first read: cosmetic prizes, opt-in data, idempotent scoring, category exclusivity, walkable contract.
Direct answers below. The longer ones land in the call.
Thirty minutes. Informational, not a pitch. We walk your activation calendar, your category constraints, your KPI floor — and if pick'em fits, we have a one-page conditional letter in front of you within the week. Four Q3 slots remain.
Book a 30-min call →