Four things you should know about eSports!

1. Huge audiences

eSports are very popular! Roughly 385 million people, and maybe even more people by the time you read this, are uniting around this fast-growing new form of “sport”.

2. The audience became worldwide

When asked where eSport was born, the market often refers to the United States with the Spacewar competition organised between students of Stanford University in 1972. Or on a larger scale, the Space Invaders Championship that took place in 1980.

But it was only in 1997 that the Red Annihilation tournament brought eSports to the next level. The competition, around the famous game ‘Quake’, attracted the attention of media and the general public. The winner, Dennis “Thresh” Fong, became the first professional gamer and was even called the “Michael Jordan of gaming”. Learn more about eSports’ history

But though it was born in the US, it’s become a global phenomenon.

The Score #29
Download the full report to learn more about the Brazilian Esports audience and market: https://t.co/3aMmnTyxav @NewzooHQ pic.twitter.com/dQ6bmLOMV7

— Globecast (@Globecast) August 1, 2018

eSports has experienced rapid and global growth; so much so that the question of whether or not it should be part of the Olympics is increasingly discussed. There’s no doubt that the eSports wave is real, it’s big and it’s global.

3. Money is flowing   

There’s great competitor prize money and major revenue potential with eSports. We’ve even see eSports replace football as the sport with the greatest ability to grow revenues globally, according to a recent PwC’s Sports survey.

eSports market revenue this year is expected to be around $US900m and is forecast to generate almost $US1.65bn by 2020.

And all this translates into more competitions, more sponsorship, more ticket sales, more streaming, or more room for dedicated eSports TV channels.

The Quote #25
And you can click here to discover how #esports can help you grow viewing audiences. pic.twitter.com/vkLdznY3fY

— Globecast (@Globecast) July 20, 2018

Another significant opportunity is eSports’ ability to attract and engage with hard-to-reach audiences, including Millennials. This hyper-connected audience is the first generation to embrace it and they are the primary viewers of eSports.

4. “Where there is a mobile signal, there is potential”

The Quote #13

Don’t miss the “The Art of Connecting Brands to Unique eSports Opportunities” 1:30 PM, N253, #NABShow pic.twitter.com/QvZqjdqayB

— Globecast (@Globecast) April 11, 2018

And, why is that? Because the content is easily accessible. We spend an average of 140 minutes per day on our smartphones and the latest models are now our primary gaming device.  We can rapidly and easily download games on our phones or watch others play on different platforms. Twitch TV is certainly the most famous streaming platform for eSports but there’s also YouTube Gaming or linear channels such as ESPN that broadcast live coverage of competitions.

This is all without mentioning the arrival of 5G which will favour mobile gaming and allow gamers to continue playing outdoors with extremely low latency (around four times lower than the average latency for 4G).
“5G will enable on-demand entertainment anywhere, making it more vibrant and immersive, and eSports is a prime example of a use case that gets significantly better with faster speeds, ultra-low latency, and massive capacity” explained Jonathan Woods, Senior Director at Intel.

One thing’s for sure; the eSports market will continue on its profitable growth path so it’s time to get on board! We can help you broadcast any event related to eSports: just say the word here.