24 YOUR TAKE QYOU Media
Words by Curt Marvis, CEO and co-founder of QYOU Media
Simpler, shorter games and more family-friendly content are just two ways esports could attract a mainstream audience
Broadcasters have realised that younger audiences are cutting the cord not because they don’t want to pay for TV, but because the content they want to watch is not always available on linear channels. Digital- first content is a huge part of the diets of millennial and generation Z viewers, and broadcasters are evolving their offerings in line with these tastes and habits. However, the esports content found on video streaming platforms, such as Twitch and YouTube, typically attracts a niche audience that is already deeply embedded in the world of online gaming. Therefore, linear broadcasters need to adapt the esports format so it is TV friendly and relevant to a wider audience. PLAYING BY TV RULES As esports makes its way into the mainstream arena the genre will have to play by TV’s rules. Broadcasters need to
adapt esports format so it is compatible with traditional TV formats. For example, tournaments streamed online typically last several hours without pause and focus on complex games such as League of Legends and Starcraft II . These games can also be violent which restricts the age of the audience that can watch them and means they can only be aired on TV at certain times. Shifting the focus onto simpler, less violent games, such as Street Fighter or Rocket League , will allow broadcasters to reduce the length of esports programmes from hours to minutes – making the genre more family-friendly. Condensing esports into shorter time frames will also allow TV audiences to focus their attention on forming emotional attachments to the players and teams. In the case of traditional sports, storytelling techniques are used to amplify the
CURTMARVIS: Esports is starting to be recognised as an exciting and growing sport in its own right
ntil recently, esports was viewed as little more than an armchair activity played by teenagers. But competitive gaming has been
gaining huge momentum on streaming platforms such as Twitch, and is now drawing more viewership than the cable news network CNN. This trend shows no signs of slowing any time soon and is expected to reach 380 million viewers worldwide this year, up 13.5% from 2017. For TV providers, there is a huge opportunity to make esports relevant to a mainstream audience by adapting its format so that it is compatible with linear TV.
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