Transforming business models in eSports

eSports has been a disruptive element that is transforming the business models of large sectors that seemed consolidated and that enjoyed great tranquility. Some sectors have been affected directly by this industry, and some of the most relevant would be:

Audiovisual rights

In a traditional sports competition, the broadcasting of events subject to audiovisual rights is the responsibility of the promoters of the events, and there are agreements between leagues, federations, teams and players.

In the case of eSports it is kind of different, as there is more controversy. This is because of the ownership of the video game, that corresponds to a private company. The intellectual property of the video game belongs to the developer company, known as Publisher, but the organizers of these events provide such value that, without them, it could not be monetized, so they deserve a part of the profit that they create, generating a controvery about who should be the ones that earn the biggest amount of money depending of the event.

The current solution for the payment of royalties is from the promoters of eSports events and tournaments to the Publishers, but this is not assured in the future, as these agreements are in a constant change, as it is a really new industry, so things could change really quickly, and could be different even depending on the type of the event.

One of the world's leading eSport companies, Blizzard, believes that the involvement of traditional sports clubs is important for the sustainability of the leagues. If this is the trend, clubs can address interesting opportunities in terms of their revenue models, including the possibility of cross-selling their traditional and digital products.

Marketing 

eSports are a disruptive force that transforms society, but if there is one thing that this discipline will change for a long time it is the marketing that companies do to reach the younger public, finding new ways of communication with them.

Many brands have seen in recent years how their values are beginning to distance themselves from the younger audience, and without knowing how, many of them have lost a relationship of commitment that is also difficult to reactivate. For this reason, eSports open up a new opportunity for companies, because of their target audience, one of the youngest, and also because of the current immaturity of the sector, which means that brands do not need to make large investments to enter the sector, although they do need to take a large amount of risk.

The brands are present in eSports through the sponsorship and patronage of professional teams, such as Giants Gaming, which has a total of eight sponsoring brands. However, there are still many professional teams without associated brands. Professional leagues are also the destination of many companies, using the names of the brands on the event's own name, taking the attention of the public to their brand.

It is important for brands to change the language of communication according to the target they are addressing, and this cannot be ignored in eSports. Brands must keep the tone and personality in their content, but with an informal, simple and spontaneous language, taking into consideration what their audience like.

In addition, the message to be communicated must be dynamic and capable of connecting with the target in the context of eSports. The messages should not be repetitive, as they are immediately taken away by the youngest audience. Instead, the message must give priority to creativity and originality, always seeking to impact the target's curiosity and its idea of belonging to a group.

eSports are first and foremost emotion and passion, and brands have to look for emotional ties with which to forge new ones. The moment the audience denotes advertising in its strictest sense, the link will be broken.