XLIVE Esports Summit Offers Insights Into Burgeoning Market Traditional media outlets turn an eager eye to a long-simmering fan base By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Thursday, August 24, 2017 - 3:31 pm
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Esports, despite the perception of major media outlets and those in the traditional TV business, can best be described as an overnight success 15 years in the making. Online tournaments like those found at Twitch.com are nothing new, and even major sports-videogame brands, such as Madden, have a deep history of competitions. But, in the past two years, esports has captured the attention of some of the world's most powerful media and sports brands. It was also the focus of the two-day XLIVE Esports Summit event in New York City this week.
During the event, several esports-related executives shared their visions for everything from franchising of teams, how to make use of social media, and, of course, how to continue to grow the esports market.
ESL events like this one in Cologne last month continue to draw larger crowds.
Craig Levine, CEO, ESL North America, said his company has forged a different path from that of other esports providers. But the ESL and all esports companies share one common element: a virtual field of play that provides what Levine called an incredible opportunity to scale and meet the needs of both participants and viewers. It's all about the games, and we believe in creating an infrastructure that transcends individual game titles.
That infrastructure has resulted in a pyramid approach to esports growth. At the bottom are the casual gamers, who can be found at ESL Play. ESL Play has 7.3 million registered players who have played in more than 91,000 tournaments and more than 125 million matches.
It's the first taste of glory for a gamer, said Levine.
The next step up is the ESL Premium, a pay service that Levine equates to the private tennis club. It offers a premium experience, better anti-cheating protections, faster server response, and match-making.
From there, he said, the next step is into the national championships, of which we have had two or three per year since 2001.
And then there is the ESL Pro League, with $2 million in prize money, playoffs held in stadiums that hold 4,000 fans, and 4 million unique viewers tuning in via Twitch and YouTube.
Of course, the newest marketing opportunity for esports is to deliver content via cable distribution to TV sets, giving a sports property that has been comfortable in the online world a chance to reach a new (and older) audience. But it can also deliver a more robust viewing experience.
The biggest push to date has been ELEAGUE on TBS, which made its debut on May 24, 2016, with a Counter-Strike tournament. Its second season has been completed, season three is in the works, and, in April, a Street Fighter V Invitational began.
Christina Alejandre, ELEAGUE, VP and GM
We're happy with what we have accomplished, but you are only as good as your last show, said Christina Alejandre, GM, ELeague. We're happy to have crossed the 1 million mark and get nominations, but we will never rest on our laurels. We're excited to be part of pushing esports forward.
Typically, when a non-televised event makes the move to TV, the TV-production community reshapes it and changes it to ensure that it is as TV-friendly as possible. But the esports community is hardcore when it comes to things like authenticity and making sure that overtones of counter-culturalism are part of the experience.
The ELEAGUE on TBS studio in Atlanta ensures the TV broadcast has the energy of a live audience and high production values.
We wanted to get as many people to watch as possible, but the main goal was authenticity, because we knew we had to capture the core audience and not TV-ify' it with abnormal commercial breaks, Alejandre added. So we breathed a sigh of relief when we were able to stay true to the sport.
Helping in those authenticity efforts is a tight relationship with the publishers, with an open dialogue to ensure that the games are presented in the best way. Also important is a social-media team that Alejandre said is the best in the esports business.
They would meme everything, as ELEAGUE viewers would follow it on social media at the time [because] it is a way to talk to their friends and to see players making fun of another player, she added. And now that we have established ourselves, we have to be as additive as possible and extend esports to the mainstream.
College campuses are getting into the esports business, and there are even college scholarships available to top-notch esports players.
The Big Ten Network has embraced esports with the help of Riot Games.
Erin Harvego, VP, Big Ten Network, discussed the conference's efforts around esports. The Penn State esports club reached out to Big Ten Network to see how it could help create a Big Ten esports tournament. Harvego attended Pax East, an annual esports conference. It was there that a pilot BTN Invitational was held, featuring teams from Ohio State and Michigan State. She was sold on the effort by a crowd of upwards of 500 people watching entire matches.
It's a different level of attention from the audience, she pointed out. Everyone plays the game and is trying to learn how to get better.
The invitational led to a league that launched in January and featured teams from 12 of 14 schools in the conference competing in a season-long League of Legends championship.The matches were available on the BTN To Go app as well as Twitch and Facebook Live and watch.lolesports.com. One advantage vs. traditional sports? Players won't have to travel and can play the games from their dorm rooms until the finals, which will take place at Riot Games' facilities in Los Angele
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XLIVE Esports Summit Offers Insights Into Burgeoning Market Traditional media outlets turn an eager eye to a long-simmering fan base By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
