by Sophie Morris – ESA Board Director | Millharbour Marketing
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly were exposed at the November 2018 ESA Breakfast event, where ESA member, Mark Reed of Heaven Media presented an overview of the esports market and case study examples of both good and not-so-good sponsorships.
Mark then moderated a panel of industry experts and key brand players.
Brands have been aware of the commercial potential for esports for some time now, but the perception has often been that there is only space for endemic brands and that anyone else will not be accepted by the super elusive audience.
James Dean, MD of ESL, said that it is now about a 50/50 split between endemic and non-endemic for games such as Dota 2. Authenticity is the key and brands such as DHL and RedBull are now seen as endemic in their games.
Brands EE and Betway both said that it can be a hard sell into senior management and that leading brands such as RedBull paved the way for others to follow, with compelling case studies of how esports sponsorship can be done well.
Michael Lister of Harbottle & Lewis, provided the legal perspective, saying that many agreements are still ‘napkin contracts’, with legal terms being an afterthought. Another issue for traditional sponsors is the lack of a regulatory body to deal with concerns such as match-fixing and doping.
Our panel braved the dreaded question to predict where esports will be in 3-5 years time:
Matt Stevenson, EE – quicker speeds, such as through their 5G network, will allow for better mobile gaming.
James Dean, ESL – there will be growth in a wider audience and a change in business models, to include licensing and other commercial opportunities.
Adam Savinson, Betway – the growth will come from monetisation of the current audience, rather than increasing audience size.
Michael Lister, Harbottle & Lewis – we will see non-endemic sponsors gaining their ‘place’ in esports by learning from traditional sports e.g. ‘owning’ a hole-in-one equivalent, something that will appeal to both players and fans and give a genuine role in the action. Regulation will be improved and we will see more diversity in the market. The increase in audiences will come, should esports be included in the Olympics. That will be a huge catalyst for growth, with global mainstream TV audiences and the capability of Olympic broadcasters to explain sports to new audiences.
Questions from the audience included:
TV’s role in esports – James Dean from ESL posed the view that esports doesn’t need TV. Behaviour shows that people are watching on PC’s or mobile devices and if they want to watch on the big screen, will do so by casting from their usual device.
How brands are measuring ROI – Mark Reed said that many of his clients are measuring directly on sales and 90-day cycles. Other longer-term brand metrics mentioned by the panel included an increase in brand consideration, leads and sales.
Esports crossing over into traditional sports – this drew a mixed response from the panel, with some saying that there could be crossover, which would help with audience growth for both sides, the opposing view was also given that there will always be distinctions – it just depends on the sport/esport!
The final panel takeaways for brands looking to get into esports were:
Due Diligence – do your research and make sure you know what you are partnering with.
Authenticity – have a dedicated esports strategy.
Experience it – go to an event to truly understand how to connect with the audience.
Understand the audience and your role.
-ENDS-
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