Esport rides the crest of a wave
Sports enthusiasts revel in watching their stars compete against each other in the online realm
● Sport watchers, participants, consumers if you like, are increasingly finding their fix online as Covid-19 continues to paralyse sport.
In the mass migration virtual sports appears to be the biggest winner as enthusiasts revel in watching their stars compete against each other in the online realm, according to a sports industry analytics expert.
Most glowing example
“The big shift is in the virtual sports events. The Formula One and Nascar drivers, as well as the NBA stars going against each other. That is where the big growth is coming from,” said Kelvin Watt, MD of Nielsen Sport Africa/Asia.
“Basically we are seeing people tuning in watching athletes and teams that they know participating in virtual events using one of the published games.”
The most glowing example is perhaps the Australian virtual grand prix which was held last week. Charles LeClerc won that race, the second of the virtual season which is expected to run until May.
“Sports fans are going online to watch their chosen sport in a virtual space. It’s the multi-player online battle arena where you have two teams or individuals battling against each other,” said Watt.
He agrees having stars compete in the virtual realm lends authenticity, a commodity that can make or break an event.
US showed highest spike
Unsurprisingly, the platforms that have a traditional presence in online gaming are doing better. “Cricket and rugby doesn’t have classical digital games to the extent basketball, Fifa, American football, or motor sport does. In the case of Formula One, the drivers actually all drive simulators at home. That’s how they train and it is pretty realistic,” said Watt.
Reaching out to about 3,000 individuals in France, Germany, the UK and the US, Nielsen’s monthly video game tracking survey uncovered the spike in game usage during the week of March 23 to 29. The US with 45% showed the highest spike followed by France with 38, the UK 29 and Germany 20%.
Though the numbers are up, Watt is cautious to draw parallels with what is happening in SA. “It is driven by people’s access to internet and data. That is just the nature of SA. Certain gaming and interest in esports has been growing steadily in this country for some time. You also need to separate, especially in the esports world, there is a whole host of different genres.
“From a gaming and streaming perspective that is all up significantly because people are at home and they have time.”
Watt added that people who were already gamers are doing so more often. “Things like Netflix and various other streaming opportunities, social and digital media usage are all up. It is all up well into double digits.”
While online gaming figures are bullish, Watt says sports betting companies are on a bear run. “The football and live racing really drives their revenue. They have been able to replace it, but their volumes are down.”
Though South Africans are also gravitating to the online realm, Watt doesn’t believe they are lost to real world onfield activity.
“I don’t think it will be at its expense at all. I think it will develop synergistically. We are seeing sports fans around the world are honest about the fact that they are missing their sports and we are not surprised. What is interesting is that people who are relatively neutral sports fans are talking about how they are missing sport.
“People now talk about exercise. We expect to see a boost in that environment where people in future participate more in events.
“I think when we get back, people’s behaviour around sport will be quite positive. They’ll be more involved because in the past they maybe took it for granted.”
Interest in esports has been growing steadily in SA
Kelvin Watt
MD of Nielsen Sport Africa/Asia
Sports fans are honest about missing their sports Kelvin Watt
MD of Nielsen Sport Africa/Asia