It’s not exactly McGregor-Mayweather 2, but there is no bigger match-up in the YouTuber universe than this Saturday’s fight between UK vlogger KSI and his US counterpart Logan Paul at the Manchester Arena.
And now the boxing match made in YouTube heaven has got a main sponsor, in the form of Gibraltar-based MansionBet.
MansionBet is the betting arm of the Mansion casino and gaming brand, which is currently in its fourth year as the main shirt sponsor of English Premier League club AFC Bournemouth.
As part of the deal, which aims to increase awareness of the brand in the UK, MansionBet will get branding inside the boxing ring and exposure in front of millions of viewers online.
KSI pulled in more than 15m viewers online when he fought Joe Weller, another YouTuber, in February. The Logan Paul fight is expected to exceed that figure, as KSI and Logan Paul boast a combined 37m subscribers.
Commenting on the deal, Shelly Suter-Hadad, COO and managing director of Mansion, said: “We are excited to expand our sponsorship portfolio with such a huge, media-focused event. We recognise that sports betting should be a fun, safe environment, and with this sponsorship so heavily based on online comedy, it was the perfect fit for us.”
YouTube stars, or ‘influencers’, are more commonly used as ambassadors or message amplifiers in sponsorship activations but have come to the fore in recent years as the star turns in events like the Wembley Cup, with UK mobile network operator EE. The event pits two sets of YouTubers and former football pros against each other in a match at Wembley Stadium.