Sports Consultr x Esports Live
What do you know about Esports and Gaming?
How many people play it? What is it worth? How can you or your business or organisation enter into the industry?
What I think you do need to know, is that the growth in engagement is not a topic that is up for debate….
According to Roy Morgan data from December 2020, 5.5 million Aussies played video games in the three months previous. Specifically looking at esports, The Newzoo Global Esports & Live Streaming Market Report (2021) places Australia’s current esports audience at a whopping 2.3 million! Newzoo estimates that by 2024, 920.3million people globally watching esports at a CAGR of 9.2% year-on-year.
PwC’s latest Australian Entertainment and Media Outlook, total interactive gaming and esports revenues, which rose by 7.2% in 2020 to $3.41 billion, are expected to grow at a 7.5% CAGR based on the midpoint forecast scenario through to 2025.
“Video games are bigger business than ever, topping movies and music combined. In 2020, the U.S. video game industry grew 27% to $56.9 billion in revenue, surpassing movies and music combined.“ (NPD Group)
Now, these are incredible numbers, ones which you may have heard of, but have still not had first hand experiences of. But gamers are out there playing, and playing for big cash prizes. The question is, how can your organisation and its members be a part of it together?
Since the pandemic hit Australia in March 2020 and of course the rest of the world in and around that period, Sports Consultr has dipped its toes and entered into just a small part of the Esports world working with the introduction of Esports Live.
Esports Live, is a Melbourne born, tournament and competitions organisation which has been built from the incredibly intuitive Swedish software CupManager which is used predominately for traditional sports tournaments.
Esports Live aim to deliver full turn-key competition management for organisations, professional clubs and teams, community sports facilities and groups from a local to national and even international level.
Offering a white label solution for organisations or a simple tournament creation, competitions can be up and running within 24-48 hours, take registrations and payments, have it’s own dedicated website and app, as well as fixtures & scheduling organised. Full training and onboarding as well as 24/7 support is provided both in Australia and in Europe and included with packages.
Since 2020, Esports Live have delivered over 50 tournaments from titles including FIFA20/21 and now FIFA22, PES21, Rocket League and NBA 2K22 to name a few. Well over 10,000 players have participated in these competitions from Australia and the UK, with the majority all playing in online community tournaments for the first time, and certainly not the last.
Not only has the pandemic brought about huge popularity of online competition for all to access, but it has also unearthed the power and education of Esports. Like traditional sport, Esports has huge benefits and outcomes for gamers. Impressively , it provides huge social, mental benefits plus pathways from grassroots to elite. Gamers at primary school upwards are engaged throughout, working as team or individual to solve problems, but unlike traditional sport, Esports allows the unsung person in the room to become a champion through playing video games. You do not need to be good at sports to play these games.
CLIENTS
Generally tournaments are created in partnership with those who wish to service members, however there are public tournaments which can be entered on the website to win cash prizes and claim rewards.
Here are a few tournaments Esports Live has delivered with;
Football Associations such as Football Victoria and Football NSW (Australia)
Professional Football Clubs such as Fleetwood Town FC (UK)
Primary and Secondary Schools
Sports Brands such as Ultra Football
Soccer clubs including NPL and community clubs like Avondale FC, Dandenong City and Mornington Soccer Club
Universities such as Deakin University and over 13 universities in the UK
Law Firms such as Brabners (UK)
Community Groups such as Football Empowerment
The list is endless as are the possibilities!
Video from Football Victoria powered by Esports Live
LIVE STREAMING
A key part of Esports Live delivery of tournaments over the past year, is the offering of the Finals Experience. Even though gamers are playing from the comfort of their homes or office, they can still be placed in the limelight with a crowd of up to hundreds thousands watching them play live! Esports Live has brought that opportunity to life with streaming Grand Finals of competitions live on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube, whilst recruiting commentators for interviews and in game calls to add to an impressive finals experience for gamers to participate in.
Live streaming video platform Twitch allows viewers to watch some of their favourite gamers live on the internet. Statista reports a total of 6.51 billion hours were watched on the platform in the second quarter of 2021, the highest audience engagement with the streaming platform to date.
Competition is well and truly alive and you can watch every minute of it!
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
During 2020 and 2021 in every country, hundreds of millions if not a billions in sponsorship money and opportunities were lost due to the lack of events which had been cancelled due to the pandemic. In most cases, only those business’ who were able to offer digital and online assets were able to benefit from continued sponsorships. Now you’ve seen the numbers of participants within Esports and Gaming industry, so on the topic of sponsorship, you’ll realise what an opportunity this presents for business’ and sponsor, which not even a pandemic can stop!
Esports Live has been working with multiple clients who have leveraged exisiting as well as new sponsors to come on board and work with them to execute Esports tournaments for their members. This has allowed sponsors the opportunity to reach an audience that they normally hadn’t considered nor did the client. This may through offers for signing up, rewards for competing and completing challenges and of course huge rewards for winning. It’s certainly been an eye opener and game changer for everyone involved and it’s only getting bigger!
WRAP UP
2022 looks set to be another big year for Esports Live with a number of announcements to be made with new tournaments, partners and new concepts which includes being able to offer on-site activations and stage at events. Watch this space!
If your organisation would like to review the possibility of entering a Esports and Gaming world for your members then please get in touch. Also check out what Esports Live are doing online;
www.e-sportslive.com.au | info@e-sportslive.com.au
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