In today`s generation the traditional sports have a new competitor which is Esports. In last few years Esports has grown immensely in India and has able to receive a lot of attention and focus by the youth of the country. In last 5 years Esports has seen a boost in the viewership and participation numbers.
According to Techopedia, Esports is “ competitive first-person shooter games, large online multiplayer role playing games, or even primitive logic or action games, as long as there is competitive element.”
In 2021 the Esport viewership has seen a huge leap from 397 million in 2019 to 474 million viewers in 2021 and it is expected that the worldwide viewership will reach 577 million by 2024.
Hit a ❤️ and shower some love to the "Esports Mascots" for Asian Games 2022.#asiangames22 #esports #indianesports #sports #videogames #esportsathletes #gamerlife@WeAreTeamIndia @IndiaSports @ianuragthakur @19thAGofficial @AESF_Official @artsmithconcept @AsianGamesOCA pic.twitter.com/ojKHUXKHzQ
— Esports Federation of India (@esfindia) January 4, 2022
Till 2018 India was no where close in reference to world competitors when it comes to competing in the Esports market, but the rise of Pub-G mobile games has brought the E-sport revolution in India and has helped India to become a huge market for E-sports.
A research by DataReportals on Esports audience has shown that 32% of audience who love playing Esports are between the age of 16 to 24, while 30% of the audience who have developed a knack of playing Esports are between the age group of 25 to 30 whereas, BARC report on Indian Sporting Leagues has shown that for most popular Indian Leagues audience lies between the millennial age group. Therefore, it will lead to competition between the sporting organizations for same target audience, and it could pose a threat to the traditional sports in long term because of the following reasons:
- The level of engagement for fans is much more in E-sports and the rate at which the viewership is also increasing is very high as compared to the traditional sports. Eventually, brands will see their money value in these numbers and E-sports might get a larger chunk of Sponsorship Money.
- Most brands are trying to target Gen Z and Millennials for marketing purposes, due to which for marketeers, it is becoming tough to keep these targeted audience engaged as the attention span is also decreasing simultaneously. These target audiences form the core audience of E-sports and are highly engaged in that space. Therefore, it is likely that Brands will see much more value in supporting E-sports properties.
- With the kind of strengths India possesses for mobile gaming, and the number of global E-sports players entering India, we will eventually start producing world class E-sports athletes to compete at the highest of levels. After Cricket, we have E-sports who could potentially do well at the global level, if we nourish E-sports as a prominent career in future than we can also create world class E-sport athletes.
- The Industry is disorganized in India at the moment and most of ardent players are unaware about the career opportunities in this new E-Sports ecosystem once they will have a clear picture in their mind it will certainly motivate other young peers to join the community of E-Sports for years to come.
Related posts:
