North America and Europe have recently seen a tremendous rise in the number of people who watch eSports online and attend real-life tournaments. Popular digital game titles like DotA 2 and League of Legends enjoy a massive audience that regularly watches or participates in competitions. The emergence of competitive gaming presents publishers with a great new avenue to extend the user experience and allows brands to engage a generation of consumers that spend little time with traditional forms of entertainment.

In many ways competitive gaming seems, at least at first glance, to resemble traditional sports. But to think that a new phenomenon like eSports can be described in terms of the old is to misunderstand it entirely. The intersection of technology, fandom and interactive entertainment is presenting us with new ways of sharing great experiences on a global scale.

• ·         Korea and China continue to dominate $612M global eSports market. The ongoing investment in N. America and Europe by digital-only publishers drives overall growth and audience expansion.
• ·         The global eSports audience is 134 million strong and growing. Investment in innovative business models, platforms and derivative businesses further spurs growth in competitive gaming.
• ·         Competitive gaming is a marketing strategy, not a revenue driver. In addition to traditional marketing efforts, organizing events and streaming content improves awareness and retention.
• ·         Thirteen percent (13%) of live-stream viewers watch eSports. Almost half of eSports viewers in the U.S. use Twitch.tv, the world’s largest live streaming site for game content. Roughly half of eSports viewers participate in some type of competitive gaming, mostly online through platforms.
• ·         Corporate sponsorships total $111 million in North America (2015E). Brand owners and advertisers are expected to adapt to emergent forms of entertainment, which will grow sponsorship deals across the segment.

Esports is big business

For marketers, esports such as 'League of Legends' an enticing way to reach millennials

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. –  The latest ally in competitive gaming's fight for mainstream awareness just might be marketers.

At an intimate, invite-only gathering this week at an exclusive seaside resort, executives from corporations like AT&T, State Farm and McDonald's were looking to electronic sports to potentially capture new consumers. While esports now regularly draws tens of millions of spectators both online and in person, the genre continues to battle for broader recognition in North America.

"There is definitely an awareness issue across mainstream elements," said Dustin Beck, vice president of esports and merchandising at "League of Legends" publisher Riot Games. "We want this to be a successful ecosystem for decades to come, and that will be buoyed by having larger brands, like those here, who become aware of esports and get involved in esports."

Beck was among the attendees Wednesday at the sixth annual PTTOW! summit, an exclusive get-together of execs interested in reaching young consumers. Other subjects discussed at PTTOW! — which stands for "Plan To Take On the World" — included virtual reality, globalization and predictive marketing, with esports among the summit's most popular topics.

"Our job is to tell people what they don't know," said Roman Tsunder, co-founder and CEO of PTTOW! "Who wants to talk about something everyone knows about? Everyone here is the best in the world at what they do, and esports was important to include because enough people mentioned it. That's notable because there's $68 million of media investment in this room."

Over the past 10 years, the popularity of esports has amplified as technology has evolved, Internet speeds have become more reliable and a generation of gamers has grown up watching competitive bouts on streaming video sites like Twitch and YouTube. Earlier this year, a report released by research firm Newzoo said 205 million people watched esports in 2014.

However, a divide continues to frustrate the medium. The broadcast of a collegiate tournament for Blizzard's upcoming game "Heroes of the Storm" drew only about 100,000 viewers when it aired last month on ESPN2. It also inspired ire. ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd later remarked that he would retire if he was "ever forced to cover guys playing video games."

They Were White And They Were Slaves

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Circle 7

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Nature Knows No Color Line by J.A. Rogers

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Mobile MOBA Vainglory strikes deal with Electronic Sports League

Developer Super Evil Megacorp has partnered with ESL on a new eSports deal for its mobile MOBA Vainglory.

Games Industry reports ESL will host the first-ever official Vainglory Cup Series beginning May 13^th across Europe. The tournament marks the first mobile MOBA event in ESL's history.

"We're at the very beginning of eSports on touch screens and we're excited to begin what will be a long journey. As the world's largest eSports company, ESL is a natural partner for us," Super Evil Megacorp COO Kristian Segerstrale said.

"Our community has been asking for more support for competitive play from us and we're excited that some of our biggest German streamers will be involved together with ESL in delivering our first official eSports event."

"Vainglory will be the first purely mobile MOBA tournament in ESL history, and we can't wait to see the matches starting next week, streamed live from our studio in Frankfurt," ESL Founder and Chairman Jens Hilgers added.

"We are strong believers in the future eSports on touch devices, and we have chosen Vainglory as the first mobile MOBA as it delivers AAA quality, greatly balanced competitive gameplay, best in class touch controls, and last but not least, is developed by a rockstar team with eSports in their DNA."

The top two teams in the tournament will compete in the finals for cash and other prizes on June 14^th.

by Erik Johnson 
Monday, May 11th 2015 at 3:00AM BST