The penultimate panel of Day One at the inaugural MediaTech 360 Summit explored the evolving relationship of eSports and broadcasting.
Moderated by Day One chairman Simon Frost, eSports and broadcasting - the new frontier?' the panel was made up of; Martin Goswami, director of pay and distribution, ITV; Ellie Reed, head of digital, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment; and Lauren Foye, senior analyst, Juniper Research.
Outlining eSports for those unfamiliar with the concept, Reed explained: eSports is essentially taking gaming into showmanship. It's about creating live experiences interesting enough for viewers to watch at home.
eSports was first televised in the 1980s, but had predominantly been popular across Asia. Twitch - acquired by Amazon in 2014 - popularised the concept across the US and Europe, with 43 million viewers per month in the US at the time of purchase. Summing up how far the medium has come, Frost pointed out that Staffordshire University recently launched an eSports degree'.
Twitch versus TV
Goswami said that there are several dimensions to the Twitch versus TV debate. Broadcasters need to try to understand why people watch streams on Twitch. You firstly have people tuning in to watch a particular championship, but there are also alternate commentaries, how-tos - all across an absolute multitude of different games and genres.
He added: Twitch is unlikely to be toppled from its place unless the publishers themselves decide to do that. TV has to figure out what it does better than Twitch. 4K? More stats? It could also offer the content it offers for live sports - pre-match build up, half time and full time analysis, as well as live analysis during the game.
Then there are backstories - most e-gamers have quite interesting personalities, so there's potentially a lot that could be brought out there.
Reed chimed in: What value does the user get from Twitch instead of TV? TV is a uniting force - everyone can watch the same show at the same time and experience the same commentary. That's not where gaming community came from. They created this medium for themselves.
TV's entry point
Viewers watching Twitch expect a different level of authenticity and production to traditional TV.
Reed said: Sometimes that's a good thing, but sometimes gamers want to see something real, raw and timely. For TV, it will be about recognising that the gaming community has a lot of value in original and immersive content. If the value chain is clearly defined, then there's room for both TV and Twitch.
Foye added: There is such a sheer wealth of content - if people are interested in those products, they will go for a platform specifically for that. Quality of content, 4K, HDR, UHD, etcetera they could maybe be TV's way in.
The panel revealed that monetisation could be an issue for live TV, with current models unsuited to the medium. Foye explained: There is a lot of content regarding live interaction with broadcasters - which is essentially tipping. We're expecting far more advertising moving forwards, but it's difficult to know how TV will implement that without scaring away viewers.
As the panel drew to a close, Goswami concluded: The [eSports] bus is moving along - no one is driving it and no one knows where it is going, but it's still going at some speed!
An in-depth write up of the eSports panel session, along with the rest of the exciting insight and debate encompassed by MediaTech 360, will be available in the coming weeks.
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The penultimate panel of Day One at the inaugural MediaTech 360 Summit explored the evolving relationship of eSports and broadcasting.
