Gaming Giants Like Activision Blizzard, Riot Bet on Esports’ TV Prospects

variety.com:

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterEsports is the biggest opportunity in TV that nobody’s talking about — yet.That’s the view from video game industry veterans who see esports — or the exploding world of live video gaming competitions, complete with crowds of virtual fans cheering them on — as poised to explode in the coming years.Riot Games and Activision Blizzard are among the gaming giants making big investments to juice the burgeoning market for esports TV rights deals.

A new round of consolidation and fresh capital coming into gaming, as evidenced by Microsoft’s pending $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, will raise the stakes, as esports content is a clear growth engine for gaming.“We don’t necessarily see obstacles in front of us — we see opportunity,” Brandon Snow, head of Activision Blizzard esports, tells Variety. “Broadcast and cable networks have been losing our fan base and demographic to digital streaming services over the last five years, and any real commitment to esports requires vision and a broader strategic purpose.

We see this as an opportunity, because the longer traditional broadcast media wait to make real investment in esports, the more they will need to play a frenzied and frenetic game of catch-up.” In 2021, the esports industry drew an estimated 474 million viewers and brought more than $1 billion in total revenue, up 14.5% from 2020, according to games and esports analytics company Newzoo.

It’s projected to rise to $1.6 billion by 2024. But esports media rights brought in only $192.6 million last year, according to Newzoo’s annual report.