Why The Next Olympics Will Have eSports
The Rise Of Digital Athletes And OTT
Just five days into the PyeongChang Olympics, NBC Sports Digital has established a Winter Games record with 445M live streaming minutes through Monday afternoon —25M live streaming minutes more than the entire 2014 Sochi Olympics. More people are watching sporting events from the comfort of their own homes thanks to over-the-top (OTT) streaming services. If NBC and the Olympics want to continue expanding their global audience across OTT platforms, then eSports is one way to increase viewership like never before.
OTT will undoubtedly open up new experiences, increase revenue, drive fan engagement and even introduce new sports categories to the Olympics. With further adoption of OTT, eSports in the Olympics is unavoidable. It also just makes good business sense.
As eSports becomes engrained in the DNA of sports & entertainment, American broadcast networks are actively looking to engage their current fans while also reaching new ones — from their couch. The next generation of fans will be connected to OTT platforms, something eSports enthusiasts have been using for several years.
The eSports segment surpassed $1.5B in revenue last year and surged in viewership with streaming services like Twitch, the world’s leading video platform and community for gamers. eSports has a global audience of about 300M. In comparison, the NFL had only 204M unique viewers tune into the 2016 NFL regular season in the U.S., based on Nielsen data. Riot Games reported that its 15-day, 2016 League of Legends World Championship generated 396M cumulative daily unique impressions and broadcasted in 18 languages.
Live streaming eSports at the Olympics is the best venue for broadcasters to reach record audiences and increase total revenues (media rights, advertising, and sponsorship). According to Ted Leonsis, there already exists interest from mainstream media:
“Earlier this year ESPN launched an esports vertical to meet growing audience interest, while TBS and Twitch (an Amazon subsidiary) broadcast competitions and tournaments. Major League Baseball’s BAMTech recently completed a reported $300 million exclusive streaming rights and development agreement with Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends. Media and distribution rights will continue to escalate, and I envision traditional and nontraditional outlets will enter the live streaming conversations.” — Ted Leonsis, Esports: Bigger Than You Think
While professional sports leagues have already been lured to the action, it appears steps are now being taken to add eSports to future Olympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has reportedly expressed interests in the possibility of including eSports as soon as the Paris 2024 Olympics. The IOC stated that eSports “can provide a platform for engagement with the Olympic movement” and is “showing strong growth, especially within the youth demographic across different countries”.
A few current Olympians aren’t receptive to the idea of eSports in the Winter Games, but that comes with a misunderstanding of what goes into the preparation behind gaming. Digital athletes not only train physically and mentally but also attract a large fanbase that they interact with on a consistent basis. Not sure the same can be said for curlers that generate a mild buzz every four years.
As gaming continues to gain greater worldwide adoption, new stable infrastructure will arrive and broadcast networks will learn how to imagine with it. Introducing eSports to a mainstream audience in a setting like the Olympics through OTT will create new possibilities for all stakeholders. As eSports continues to look more like traditional sports, the future Olympic athletes might be competing from behind keyboards.
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