Menu
Esports

Traditional Networks Figuring Out How Best To Broadcast Esports

ABC's broadcast of the Overwatch League last Saturday "marked a significant step forward for pro gaming's push towards mainstream awareness," though it also "earned the ire of some mainstream sports fans," according to Jacob Bogage of the WASHINGTON POST. The mixed reaction "demonstrates the complicated challenge the esports industry faces as it attempts to broaden its audience and TV networks experiment with the potential of broadcasting live gaming competitions." Traditional TV distributors like Turner and ESPN see an opportunity to "break into esports content and the lucrative advertising revenue around gaming leagues." However, esports broadcasts "present a number of questions that neither leagues nor networks appears immediately capable or willing to answer." Bogage: "What is the true value of non-exclusive broadcast rights to properties like the Overwatch League or the League of Legends Championship Series? And also, how do esports leagues, with a burgeoning and passionate fanbase entrenched in online streaming sites like Twitch, and networks ... produce a broadcast that can appeal to both groups?" Industry analysts "remain unconvinced that both publishers and distributors have yet found a method to appeal to both a more general and unfamiliar television audience and a more passionate and game-savvy group streaming online." A telecast "full of jargon and gaming strategy might pull fans from online platforms, but won't help nonnative audiences understand the action or players," while a presentation "full of explanations about the game's basics risks condescending to the league's most devoted fans" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 3/28).

For more coverage of the business of esports, visit our partners, esportsobserver.com.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2019/03/29/Esports/Esports-Broadcasts.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2019/03/29/Esports/Esports-Broadcasts.aspx

CLOSE