Could an Esports event do NFL/NBA/MLB ratings?

[Tech614]

There is no way E-Sports will come close to the NFL, thats folly. Or MLB as long as big market teams like the Cubs or the Yankess keep winning.

Yankees haven't won shit in years and until last years the Cubs where literally the laughing stock of the league for a century.

[amishjello]

Considering the Internets massive distaste for ads, I doubt it. The ads are huge money makers for large sporting events.

[Edge-]

Considering the Internets massive distaste for ads, I doubt it. The ads are huge money makers for large sporting events.

And esports. Why do you think you see teams with their branded uniforms, company branding everywhere on stages, brands prominently featured on peripherals, etc. etc.

Hell, Coke made a big deal a while back about how they spent big on the LoL finals tournament because they hit more of their key demographic there than they would with a superbowl ad. Sponsorship and ads aren't going anywhere for esports anytime soon, especially with Blizzard pushing for far bigger investment in the OW league given that they're focusing on more mainstream investors/team brands buying in instead of the usual crowd of esports teams etc.

[StrawberryZebra]

I don't see how ads are a problem really. There are plenty of ways to get around people using ad blockers and so on for companies. Team Sponsorships, branded clothing for them or even having a well known Street Fighter player awkwardly hawk it on camera to an audience of 300k players.



It's not really intrusive or offensive, and rather than disjoint the experience, it ends up as a silly gif. Which is then shown to even more people who missed the event at EVO, win win for Monster.

Companies aren't stupid either - eSport events provide an ideal opportunity for them to market their goods to their intended audiences at a fraction of the cost of a major sporting event. All that advertising money goes into improving the events for next year, and everyone involved is better for it.

[Tech614]

Considering the Internets massive distaste for ads, I doubt it. The ads are huge money makers for large sporting events.

Yea and how the hell do you think esports events manage to pay hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars to winners? Outside of Dota 2 and SFV that money is mostly funded by ads... Even still Dota 2 and SFV are still mostly from ads as well, they just have in game transactions that add to the prize pool as well.

How do you think sponsors fund teams and send players to events all over the world? Oh yea... ads.

Not like you can block the ads in esports either as the players are literally wearing them and they're part of the broadcast and not a 3rd party pop up.

[mehow2g]

I think in 10-20 years it's certainly possible, here in Australia the Football leagues are starting to buy out eSports organisations and the governing body of Australian Football I believe wants every team to buy a eSport organisation.

These moves soon came after the IEM Sydney competition happened.

Kids growing up with technology careless for sports and are into gaming more so, plus we have studies showing 98% NFL players suffer for brain damage... NFL and other contact sports may come to an end in the distant future with parents not allowing kids to play contact sports, I'd say this is already happening quickly.

In CSGO for example Visa and Audi are now sponsoring teams, thats a pretty good indicator how large its getting.

[shrunken]

Esports is rising in popularity. Do you think one day an Esports event could get the kind of ratings the major sports organizations do?

not in your lifetime

[Low Hanging Fruit]

It is a growing market. It will take time. I think the hardest selling point of esports is finding a way spectate the games and displaying the skill of the players all at the same time. In a first person shooter for example you need to be in the players view to see skill as they aim, switch weapons, move, adjust, and communicate. But you need an understanding of maps and where everyone is on an over view to understand what is going on in the scope of the game. Whereas in an NBA game you can just have the camera pan the court and watch some guy do an amazing move as they drive around a defender and make an amazing shot or pass all at once while knowing what everyone on both teams is doing in full view at real time. Not see though dots on a map or just an understanding of maps from playing the game yourself but actually seeing it real time all at once. The person that breaks though with the ways to over come this problem will make esports huge. The second thing about esports is that it is a young person sport. Things like school interfere early on and then you run into having to go to college, military, or getting a job later on in life when you are still to young make a lot of these choices yourself. Before you really know what you want to do or not do. Finally I think the internet has made the whole scene very toxic. These other sports came to maturity without the utter toxicity of the internet poisoning the players and fan base constantly. While I have no doubt you had just as many assholes and jerks in the early NFL days.. the fact is they had a buffer between them and the press so it wasn't dirty laundry day every day.

[cuafpr]

very possible, just need arnea's to hosts matches as well as live streams / TV stations. With NFL/MLB and ESPN ratings dropping its possible e-sports could move up some.

Blizzard's OWL is the first attempt to get people to rally around teams like the major sports with teams based in cities.

[Nelavar]

very possible, just need arnea's to hosts matches as well as live streams / TV stations. With NFL/MLB and ESPN ratings dropping its possible e-sports could move up some.

Blizzard's OWL is the first attempt to get people to rally around teams like the major sports with teams based in cities.

It's not the first time it's been attempted. There was a league with geo-location and all that jazz called CGS around 10 years ago that failed horribly.

And if you look at what we know about OWL so far, there isn't really all that much to be optimistic about.

[GennGreymane]

maybe one day

Blizzard is doing some good things with it so far. I like that they are giving a baseline salary, retirement plans, insurance etc, and the other stuff they are settin up.

[unbound]

Esports is rising in popularity. Do you think one day an Esports event could get the kind of ratings the major sports organizations do?

There is already more than enough audience to support it. More people watch League of Legends final tournaments than the NBA finals...been that way for a few years now. Last year, the NBA final had 31 million viewers (setting a new record), but about 36 million people watched the League of Legends final.

The primary problem with getting TV ratings is that the vast majority of esports viewers are already comfortable with streaming and very few of them have cable / even watch TV.

Nielsen has an internet rating system, but you aren't going to see that being reported by TV media much since that isn't where they generally exist.

[Tech614]

Last year, the NBA final had 31 million viewers (setting a new record), but about 36 million people watched the League of Legends final.

You might want to only post legitimate numbers that actually compare with each other. That 31 million was the average amount of viewers watching a finals game at any given point. That 36 mil was anyone who launched the league app, went to the front page of twitch or even just watched 5 mins of the event. League tournaments are no where fucking close to getting an average of 31 million people watching at any given time.

[cuafpr]

It's not the first time it's been attempted. There was a league with geo-location and all that jazz called CGS around 10 years ago that failed horribly.

And if you look at what we know about OWL so far, there isn't really all that much to be optimistic about.

didn't know about CGS... and yeah i'm not optimistic about OWL but its attempt, i just think its about a decade ahead of itself in scope / goal. But hey maybe blizzard can do it. i'd love it.

[dope_danny]

It is a growing market.

Thats the thing. The growth is really effervescent. Its the 'i can be pewdiepie and get the youtube bux' mentality of 'because me too' and this leads to an idea that there is a very different core audience than there is. So companies try to 'clean up esports' for the blizzard thirst tier companies wanting to break in when the actual esports community is not that, refuse to change and will remain after attempts to clean up fail.

Or put better:

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Thats the thing. The growth is really effervescent. Its the 'i can be pewdiepie and get the youtube bux' mentality of 'because me too' and this leads to an idea that there is a very different core audience than there is. So companies try to 'clean up esports' for the blizzard thirst tier companies wanting to break in when the actual esports community is not that, refuse to change and will remain after attempts to clean up fail.

Or put better:

I agree with you and the video. It has a ton of issues. A big one is internet shit posting culture and who supports it without a doubt.