The portrait of eSports today
The electronic sports movement went through a lot, at first, through the entrance of football clubs, like Flamengo and Corinthians, in their respective modalities. Despite the success of the two most popular teams in the country, this movement is still considered low, at least in elite clubs.
"There are some different visions in the movement. We actively participated in this process, we oversaw Flamengo's eSports project for 8 months, between 2019 and 2020. Because of that, we were approached by several football clubs, in which we provide consultancy. We see a great immersion of clubs in the world of eSports. In the world of football, everything outside of their spectrum, which is to assemble a squad and compete in the championship, they look at it with a simplistic view: Electronic sport as an opportunity to generate revenue to be able to spend on football and they’re not thinking about planning, brand building, dialogue with the public," said Pedro.
He added: "It is a generalist view, not all clubs are like that, but it is what happens historically, everything that runs away from the pitch, they try to outsource to get the minimum royalties. The clubs that made movements more aligned, reaped interesting fruits, like Flamengo and Corinthians.”
Pedro mentions that a greater acceptance of traditional vehicles is necessary, but he also sees it as a natural movement, some years from now: "The discussion is increasingly over. But there is still a pre-concept and, due to lack of knowledge, there is a lack of this space on open TV. Brazil is still a little far from that. A comparison that can be made is with the Champions League in the 1990s. It was already a super attractive league, with Romário, for example, but it was very nicely on cable TV; this global fever turned, with space on open TV, but that only happened in Brazil in 2007, 2008, when Globo bought the rights."
"I see eSports following the same path, with broadcasts that started on the cable about 3, 4 years ago and today on channels like SporTV and ESPN with consistent calendars. So, I feel that it will be natural programming. Especially because the population that consumes eSports today is aging and open TV will need to adapt to this audience, competing with the forms of streaming, which are already super consolidated, such as Twitch, Facebook Gaming and Youtube Gaming,” he added.
In this pandemic period, both eSports and the platforms used for broadcasts broke expressive records, showing the strength of this movement.
"The pandemic brought a time of experimentation with the eSports product. At that time, between April and June, when there was a global lockdown and that obscure zone in which there was no live sports content, the population migrated to the streamings, be it entertainment, but also for the world of eSports. That blackout caused an audience that didn’t consume electronic sports to start taking an interest in the content. It was not for nothing that during that period there were several record-breaking audiences in broadcasts."
He also prophesied: "I believe that in 2021 we will still have high numbers, but the main challenge will be to monetize these contents, as the game developers, who organize the championships, will readjust to this new audience, so that they continue to consume, even after the pandemic. I am very optimistic."
Olympics? The future of eSports
Electronic sports have everything to consolidate themselves as a consistent modality.
Popularly considered "the sport of the future", it is already being discussed, in more liberal vehicles, a possible entry of eSports in the schedule of the Olympic Games, considering that one of the challenges of the IOC is to rejuvenate its audience.
"It is inevitable. I think we have to enter into the conversation of 'when it will happen' and not 'if it will happen'. We already see movements in Asia, for example, with eSports being part of the Asian games, although the Olympic Committee be reticent, with a simplistic, even prejudiced view, that are shared by more traditional sports, saying that eSport is not a real sport. But you just need to immerse yourself in the routine of any professional athlete to see the level of concentration, performance, the stress he goes through. They are high level athletes."
"It is a process of convincing. If I had to predict, I believe that there could be a kind of experimentation in Los Angeles, in 2028. I don't know if it would be a medal sport. But because it is in the American market, which until then will be the biggest world power, I believe you can take advantage of this opportunity.”
Brazil forecast
Pedro told what his expectations are for the Brazilian eSports market for 2021: “I see eSports in Brazil from two sides. Speaking from the inside out, I'm still not optimistic because the brands have not yet paid attention to the size of the opportunity that the gaming market delivers. When we look at the media investments of large companies and advertising agencies, more than 50% go to open TV, and the consumer audience is not always there; and this migration is slow, both for digital and for other platforms, like electronic sport itself, entertainment tools. I am still a little pessimistic about this advertising budget in electronic games because it is happening very slowly."
On the other hand, the consultant welcomes the development of eSport in Brazil, from a club perspective: "Just as I am pessimistic about brands, I am very optimistic about the development of teams as platforms, not only competitive, as well as entertainment. We have several successful examples, such as Fury, which started as a team and produced entertainment content aimed at various platforms. LOUD is another, but it was the other way around. I see a year 2021 very decisive for the clubs, in a moment of consolidation."
Women in eSports
As in any layer of society, women are still unable to have equal opportunities in the market. In eSports, despite having a notable evolution, there is still a long way to go.
"There are two ways of looking at this context. Yes, there is prejudice against women within eSports, but unfortunately it is a reflection of society. Traditional sports are no different. eSports end up bringing this 'heritage'. The good thing about eSports is that we are talking about a younger community that is more willing to discuss these issues. But within eSports there is still a lot to improve. Many women need to play with male nicknames and names in order not to suffer from prejudiced comments," he concluded.
Source: SportBuzz
