SVG Sit-Down: Verizon Media's Darren Lepke on the Rise of Esports and What's Ahead Besides challenges, the pandemic has offered opportunities for growth By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Monday, November 16, 2020 - 9:15 am
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Over the past eight months, esports broadcasters have valiantly carried on despite the pandemic, shifting to online competitions that leverage remote-production workflows. With the traditional sports world in hibernation, esports helped fill the void with hundreds of hours of live content to feed hungry live-sports fans. As esports production and streaming workflows continue to evolve at breakneck pace, Verizon Media has taken an active role in helping develop next-gen workflows for esports-content creators.
With that in mind, SVG sat down with Darren Lepke, head of video product management, Verizon Media, to discuss how the company fits into the esports landscape, the opportunities it sees for growth in esports, the primary challenges esports producers face today, how 5G could play a role in the future proliferation of esports and gaming content, and where he sees the industry headed in 2021 and beyond.
What role does Verizon Media play in esports-content production/streaming?
For us, esports is an evolution of the existing broadcast ecosystem. In my opinion, it may be the biggest leap forward we've seen in terms of the end-user experience, and that's going to drive the industry forward over the next 20 or 30 years.
Today, Verizon Media streams millions of hours of live content every year for many of the largest sports broadcasters. As esports starts to make its way into the world of traditional broadcasting and also carves out its own place in the world, we have a robust network infrastructure and powerful streaming platform, so we'll look to help these esports organizations reach as many viewers as possible.
What opportunities for growth do you see for Verizon Media as the esports sector grows?
Esports is definitely bigger than ever right now. With the impact of the pandemic on sports programming, esports has helped to fill the void left by traditional live sports. The reality is, esports was growing far in advance of the pandemic because it provides a different viewing experience for younger viewers specifically. That's making TV more interactive and driving engagement in a way that we've never seen before. We believe our opportunity is to continue to drive that innovation around the consumer experience and help deliver these amazing interactive experiences on any device anytime anywhere in the world.
From a technology/tech-stack standpoint, what are the biggest challenges for esports-content creators and broadcasters?
I see two different sides to it: the challenge of remote production and the challenge of creating a real-time interactive experience.
There are the production challenges that every single broadcaster is experiencing, regardless of whether it's esports or traditional sports. In terms of traditional broadcasting and bringing people together for a true live tournament or live experience in an arena, esports is facing the same remote production challenges as everybody else. So they have to find ways to broadcast events virtually and move a lot of their production to the cloud, as opposed to having it on premises or in a broadcast center.
We're doing everything we can to provide more remote-production assistance. We're working more with our customers to get video out of venues and to the cloud, where it can be manipulated or produced for broadcasts. And we're providing more tools in the cloud and in a virtualized or API-driven way than ever. But that trend was happening already. There was already a move to IP and to remote production; the pandemic just accelerated that trend.
The other interesting challenge when it comes to the tech stack is creating that interactive experience. It creates new demands for streaming infrastructure and for broadcast infrastructure that traditional television simply can't offer. Sports and esports content has to be [delivered] in near real time. From a technology perspective, that means new infrastructure and new protocols that will push the envelope in terms of how fast you can deliver content to the viewers.
Also, esports [broadcasts] tend to be more of a two-way conversation between the fans and the broadcasters. There's really an expectation that the viewers of the event have a voice. And they often are communicating with the players and broadcasters [via] real-time chat and messaging. The announcers are monitoring that conversation and, in some ways, letting the audience shape what they talk about and what they highlight. That two-way conversation brings in a whole host of additional technology challenges.
What are the biggest untapped opportunities you see in esports?
I think elements like wagering and gamification will allow audiences to participate even further. That just keeps layering on more and more challenges on top of the remote production, the real-time nature, and the two-way conversation pieces. That's certainly a challenge, but, for a service provider like Verizon Media, it's also an opportunity to facilitate that innovation and then provide it to the broadcasters so they don't have to build it themselves.
How has the rise of gaming/esports influencers and streamers changed the streaming landscape over the past few years, and how is Verizon Media looking to serve this space?
The personalities in the esports industry are an important part of the fabric of driving promotion, increased tune-in, and getting more fans engaged. It's certainly a positive factor as we see more and more influencers taking their content to exclusive platforms, driving investment across multiple playe
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SVG Sit-Down: Verizon Media's Darren Lepke on the Rise of Esports and What's Ahead Besides challenges, the pandemic has offered opportunities for growth By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
