Gaming is huge: the world spends 3 billion hours a week playing games.
All of Humanity on its way to becoming one fun society of computer and video gamers - this is no longer a utopia. "Gaming and eSports have long since arrived in the middle of society," Burkhard Leimbrock from the streaming platform twitch explained in this video at DMEXCO 2018. After all, 77 percent of internet users aged 14 and over now watch films, TV programmes or videos as streams on the internet. Live streaming of eSports and other trends such as social fooding and social outwork are also trends that have become an integral part of our everyday lives. Today, the entire world spends three billion hours playing video games and similar entertainment products. Not in a year. Not per month. But per week.
A mega-market with unimagined dimensions. The sales of computer games and the associated devices alone have long since surpassed those in all other sectors of the entertainment industry. In 2017, the music industry achieved a worldwide turnover of around 17 billion US dollars, while the film industry reached 40 billion dollars thanks to all the blockbusters. At the same time, the global turnover of the games industry was 100 billion dollars.
And what do you do? I am a streamer!
This universe produces its own stars. Streamers and eSports professionals are global stars with huge fan communities, their own merchandising products and professional video studios. Gaming and eSports stars are among the most important influencers. Worldwide.
And how do you become an eSports player?
Streamers have now developed into a profession of their own, from which many industry stars can make a good living and the top professionals in fact make a very good living. After all, it's not only the high prize money that attracts them. Marketing and advertising have also long since discovered the iconic professional gamers. In the videos and on the various platforms of gaming and eSports stars, all sorts of forms of advertising and product presentations can be incorporated that are specifically tailored to advertisers and their target groups. Leading brands and other industries invest heavily in customised campaigns that are integrated into the stars' live events and videos.
However, the most important marketing elements on the video platforms also include tools that allow fans to interact with their stars. Streams and videos are particularly good at reaching young men. They make up the largest group among video consumers, but hardly ever come into contact with advertising because, for example, they have activated all ad blockers on their electronic devices. Gamers, influencers, brand owners and advertisers have therefore long been developing joint special brand and company presences.
Why do people watch others play?
When these stars play one of the games or hold a tournament, fan crowds watch them enthusiastically, follow the games at live events on huge screens or gaze spellbound at the live streams on their electronic devices. Unthinkable? Impossible? Not at all. Because just like in conventional sports, such broadcasts also take place in games and eSports. Professionals master something particularly well, challenge other professionals with this special skill, compete in matches and tournaments, determine the best of the best, crown a world champion. Fans enthusiastically follow the action, identify with their heroes, wear their T-shirts or caps, want to be close to the stars. They follow the lives and daily routines of the streaming stars. And they exchange ideas with other fans, comment on what's happening in chats and forums on social media. It's all about having fun together and enjoying this communal experience and sharing it with as many other people as possible.
There are streamers and star commentators
If a games tournament or another stream is commented on in a particularly enthusiastic and witty way, then the fans get even more excited. Just as there are cult presenters on classic television, streamers also have their stars. They comment on their own performances or those of their challengers, the moves of other stars. If a stream is commented on in a particularly cool way, this ensures an additional influx of viewers. The important thing is that the commentator must appear as authentic as possible. Then the streams from the kitchen (social eating), the gym (social workout) or the make-up room - for all of which the professionals in the scene have long since set up their own video studios - become (live) video happenings with large fan communities.
No longer just being an uninvolved spectator, but right in the middle of the action. No longer worshipping unattainable film and video stars, but sitting virtually on the commentator's and the player's lap - that is eSports.