The future of esports is looking bright with experts forecasting it to surpass the $1.5B by 2023. This growth can be leveraged by sports organizations looking to accelerate their digital transformation, by increasing fan engagement and developing new commercial assets.
On 19 May 2021, our COO, Hisham Shehabi, participated in a panel organized by World Athletics in collaboration with Mass Participation World, to discuss the opportunity of esports and virtual sports. He joined Craig Taylor, Director of Growth Marketing Running & Triathlon at Zwift and Hugh Brasher, Event Director at London Marathon Events to discuss the topic. Below are a few of the takeaways from the event, which you can watch in full here.
Esports can play the role of a digital engagement channel
More and more often, we are seeing how sports organizations set up esports as one of the key pillars of their digital strategy. Through esports, sports entities can reach and interact with the younger generation and also attract a new audience into their ecosystem. Younger generations consume content differently, with esports content offering opportunities for them to express themselves and engage directly with athletes, brands, influencers, and their own communities. In 2020, right after the pandemic closed down sports rights holders launched their own Twitch channel. LaLiga, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain were some of the first movers with the aim of helping engage younger audiences by leaning on content that provides more interactive viewing experiences. Many professional players also got involved in it as well. Thibaut Courtois, a goalkeeper on the field and NBA 2k player, and Formula 1 racer on the virtual games was one of the most engaged professional players during the lockdown.
Virtual events like esports offer new assets for commercialization
Through esports, sports organizations can offer new experiences to their fans by competing against their idols. Through these new assets, sponsors can be engaged in new ways and given different activation opportunities. A well-executed digital strategy that includes esports, can help sports organizations diversify their revenue streams, and engage new audiences, driving them towards their main sports offerings as well.
¨By hosting virtual events, the opportunity that you can have as a sponsor to do competitions to engage 365 days of the year, 24 hours a day, when the customer wants to engage rather than that one day at that one time is huge¨.
Esports, gaming & gamification offer new communities for fans to engage & participate
Zwift created new communities during the pandemic. It launched SuperLeague Triathlon Arena Games, an event that was hosted at an iconic swimming venue. The event was innovative in creating a new community by setting up a fully triathlon indoor, with 10 swimming lanes in the pool, 10 stationary cycling stations set up on the pool deck and 10 stationary running stations set up. The format was highly engaging for the communities that Zwift engages with, and saw interest from many viewers at home.
¨It’s a way of bringing the global community of athletes together and presenting that to the fans and giving them yet another option of how to view it. And also a way for them to truly relate to that sort of giving them information and giving them events that just fit in as well. So it’s not just about the pros, but it’s about the broader community too.¨
Digitalization is a path towards offering Phygital experiences
The sports industry can evolve the one-time in-person events with continuously present engaging virtual events. This creates a bigger audience, a bigger inventory for partners to activate in and support the financial resiliency of event organizers. In 2019, Zwift partnered with the LA Marathon to achieve this. In preparation for the marathon, Zwift offered a series of workouts, training tips, and race pacing to those participating so they could be prepared for the day off but also feel part of a greater community.
Fan data ownership by sports organizations is critical for growth
Consumer habits are changing. Their interactions are increasingly digital. They expect their favorite teams, athletes, and sports to engage with them across digital & physical touchpoints with fluency and seamless interoperability. To drive this forward, data, and specifically 1st party data, must be owned end-to-end by the sports organizations of the future. To personalize their fans’ experiences, deliver content, services, products and experiences, understanding the fan and the different segments of the fanbase are crucial.
“Event organizers need to think about how to create a technology ecosystem around their events that is open and allows for new technology partners to come in. At the same time, sports organizations and event organizers need to maximize their ability to retain fan data and be in charge of that relationship directly. This will be the highest value activity that organizations can do in their digital transformation in the next years. It will bring new value to commercial partners, such as broadcasters and sponsors, but also directly to fans, top athletes and participants.¨
Digital transformation brings different benefits to your organization. Our team of experts can help you from A to Z– Assessment to MonetiZation. Reach out to us at info@n3xtsports.com or fill out this form and we will reach out to you as soon as possible.
Interested in articles like these? Stay up to date with all digital transformation, data and innovation topics in the sports industry by signing up to our newsletter here.