Reality series “Chasing the Cup,” which made its broadcast television debut Monday night on the CW Network, offers avid video gamers and casual fans an up-close look at competitive gaming. Although the airing reached a niche audience, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that the broadcast was part of an “important experiment” for Warner Bros. Entertainment, parent company of CW.

Although tens of thousands of people streamed the first five 15-minute episodes of the series on the network’s online service CW Seed over the last three weeks, the CW decided to televise an hour-long finale as a test of whether it can lure online viewers to TV. Viewers followed the journey of three American gamers and two brothers from Canada vying to be the world champion in fantasy fight game “Mortal Kombat X.”

As the Burbank studio has invested in the West Hollywood online video studio Machinima, which produced the show and publishes “Mortal Kombat” through its gaming division, the show could expand the audience for each property.