Esports has emerged as a major industry in recent years, with millions of fans tuning in to watch professional gamers compete for glory and prizes. However, while the popularity of esports has skyrocketed, the business side of the industry still faces a major challenge: monetisation. Many esports organizations struggle to generate profits, and while there are several factors contributing to this issue, one potential solution is for organizations to focus on streaming. In this blog, we’ll explore the monetisation problem facing esports, and look at why streaming could be a key factor in solving it.
Esports has gained massive popularity over the years, but it faces a significant challenge with monetization. Sponsorships can be unreliable, and copyright management can be tough to enforce. However, streaming has emerged as a potential solution. Twitch and YouTube Gaming have millions of users who regularly tune in to watch live streams, and esports organizations can use this to generate revenue. By creating their channels and streaming gameplay, training sessions, and interviews, teams and players can make a profit. Streaming also helps organizations expand their brand and reach new audiences, making it an essential part of the esports industry. Partnering with streaming services also offers a massive marketing reach, expanded brand recognition, and more fantastic opportunities for the esports sponsor audience to get involved with the sports. By improving production values, commentators, and video content, streaming helps esports reach new audiences and create engaging content with higher ROI. Ultimately, esports must continue its efforts to monetize the industry and turn a more significant profit to keep growing and inspiring more players and fans worldwide.
The esports industry has exploded in popularity over the last few years, attracting millions of fans who tune in to watch professional gamers compete for prizes and prestige. Despite this, monetisation remains a significant challenge for many esports organizations, particularly smaller ones. Sponsorships, a significant source of revenue, can be unreliable, and some esports events are free to watch. However, streaming has emerged as a potential solution to this issue. Platforms like Twitch and YouTube Gaming offer a way for organizations to generate income by creating and promoting their channels, broadcasting gameplay and interviews with sponsors, and earning income through subscriptions, sponsorships, merchandise sales, and donations. Furthermore, partnering with streaming platforms offers the opportunity to increase brand recognition and reach new audiences, allowing esports organizations to expand their brand and create engaging content with higher ROI. By improving the look and feel of esports events and providing high-quality video content and first-rate commentators, streaming can help support younger esports organizations and create a more significant profit for the industry, inspiring more players and fans worldwide.
Esports has a problem making money that’s hard to ignore. Although revenue is predicted to reach $1.1 billion in 2020, many organizations, especially smaller ones, find it challenging to make ends meet. One reason for this is that esports relies heavily on sponsorships, which can be unreliable or fall through altogether. Secondly, many esports events are free to watch, while games like Fortnite or League of Legends have yet to unveil a more substantial copyright management system. On the other hand, games like Overwatch keep copyright management much tighter. Thus, it can be difficult for streaming platforms to charge subscription fees, and for advertisers to justify spending money on advertising in gaming platforms.
However, as esports continues to grow, streaming has emerged as one potential solution to the monetisation issue. Platforms like Twitch and YouTube Gaming have millions of users who tune in regularly to watch live streams, and organizations can use these platforms to generate revenue. For example, teams and players can create their channels on Twitch or YouTube and generate a profit by streaming gameplay, training sessions or interviews with sponsors. One example is the popular streams of charismatic players that attract a lot of subscribers, sponsorships, merchandise sales, and donations. As a result, streaming has become an essential part of the esports industry.
Furthermore, with the rise of mainstream coverage of esports and mobile streaming, partnering with streaming platforms has become a particularly effective way to turn a profit by building a brand and reaching new audiences. These partnerships typically see esports organizations and players become ambassadors or affiliates for streaming platforms, receiving a share of the profits in exchange for promoting them on their channels. Platforms like Twitch have also created exclusive streaming deals with players and teams, which typically come with a guaranteed income and a portion of the channel’s ad revenue. Overall, streaming provides esports organizations with a more reliable source of income while also enabling them to expand their brand and reach new audiences.
Streaming could also provide an opportunity to increase the quality of esports events. By involving streaming services in the event marketing and management, esports organizers can enhance the viewing experience for fans with high-quality production values and first-rate commentators. Broadcasting through streaming platforms provides a subsequent integrated “brand” for events, making them more popular and improving their appeal to sponsors. Additionally, sponsors are more likely to participate if they can be confident of a high-quality broadcast and the associated analytical data that come with it. By improving the look and feel of esports events, streaming platforms may help support younger esports organizations to create engaging content and encourage them to host these events more often.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, while esports still faces challenges with monetisation, streaming offers considerable potential as part of the solution. By tapping into the millions of users on platforms like Twitch and YouTube, esports organizations can generate substantial revenues through live streaming gaming sessions, events, documentary content as well as interviews with sponsors. Simultaneously, partnering with streaming services offers huge marketing reach, expanded brand recognition, and more fantastic opportunities for the esports sponsor audience to get involved with the sports. Streaming opens up a new opportunity for the esports industry to expand beyond commercial sponsorships, merchandise sales, and other traditional revenue streams. By combining high production values, first-rate commentators and producing high-quality video content, streaming helps esports reach new audiences and create engaging content with higher ROI. It is clear that esports must continue its efforts to monetize the industry and turn a more significant profit to keep growing and inspiring more players and fans worldwide.
