Since the expansion of online video entertainment through the early adoption of YouTube, streaming services have diversified, offering communities new platforms to discover content. Often under represented in the news, the esports industry now presents itself as a serious competitor to media industry boasting greater user metrics.
The online streaming industry is dominated by a number of companies, who established a foothold in the market before it entered the digital mainstream. Twitch is the current giant on the market, with 15 million daily active users and has been accredited to the birth of numerous esports personalities.
With a growing user-base, creators look to distinguish themselves from one another to secure a more stable audience and income. This has lead to content regularly pushing the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable within the platforms community guidelines.
Platform politics has given rise to competitors poaching streaming personalities in a bid to attract more users to alternative platforms. An example of this was seen in August 2019, when Ninja signed an exclusive streaming contract with Mixer, Microsofts challenger service to Twitch. The exclusive contract with the esports professional generated interest around new platform initially, however failed to sustain regular users of the platform. This event marked the beginning in a trend in online talent poaching for the industry.
With competitive gaming receiving a significant rise in engagement over the last few years, the result has seen professional tournaments and leagues develop. Communities are built around esports, with audiences viewing teams train in featured skirmishes over online streaming platforms such as Twitch and Youtube Live.
Unlike traditional sports media networks, esports offer a complete vertically integrated environment whereby the games companies themselves produce, distribute and exhibit all operations. One such example of this is Riot Games' recent streaming venture, LoL Esports. The competitive MOBA (mulitplayer online battle arena) game, League of legends recently launched a dedicated streaming platform to host all future professional tournament activity. The purpose of the new platform is to host all professional streaming activity while unifying the fanbase in a rebranded content hub.
The platform launch could be the first in a series of game specific streaming platforms released in a bid for user retention.
Commentaires