I have something I’ve needed to get off my chest for a while. I’m a huge believer in the esports industry. I bet my career on it, after all. But the industry as a whole needs to do a better job of representing things accurately to outsiders. A thread...
All eyes have been on esports for a few years now, and rightfully so. It’s a fun & relatively new space w/ insane potential. There is no doubt in my mind that in 30 years, when we list the biggest sports in the world, the top 2 on the list will be soccer and a video game.
But how big are esports right now? The honest answer is, relatively small by macro business standards. Most recent market estimates place total esports revenues around $1B (not including game/in-game content sales). 
Part of that is because we haven’t perfected the monetization piece of the equation yet. Sports have decades of experience on that front, and we’re building this airplane while we’re in the air. We also have some additional challenges given the more global nature of the business.
Of course, the video game industry is massive and there are a ton of esports/gaming crossovers (Ninja, or Fortnite more generally are great examples). But we shouldn't blur these lines (intentionally or not) to create more hype for the subsection of gaming that is esports.
Similarly, we can use a wide array of compelling data points surrounding where the industry is now, but make sure to give the proper context...
Show sold out stadium images. Show the juxtaposition of the League of Legends World Championship from 2011, and the same World Championship last weekend. I speak from personal experience when I say I know how big of an impact these pictures can have on the right audience.
But don’t show those images w/out also noting that there will only be ~25 sold out 10,000+ person stadiums across all esports across all geographies in 2019. We’re not packing seats for regulars season games… yet.
Show the viewership metrics. Show the insane growth. But don’t compare TOTAL esports viewership to that of a single sport. And don’t say LoL Worlds is bigger than the NBA finals or Super Bowl. We measure viewership completely differently. Total uniques ≠ Nielsen ratings.
While providing that context, we can also lean into the data that requires no caveat. Our audience is young (~60% of US esports viewers are btwn 18-34), affluent (avg. household income of ~60k), & growing rapidly (~15% YoY). Any sport would kill for that demo.
And we’re only just getting started. Everyone ~35 yrs old or younger grew up in a world where video games were ubiquitous. Fast forward 50 years, and almost everyone alive will have grown up in that world. Put differently: esports is NOWHERE NEAR its market potential.
That should be our story. It’s not about a single esport being bigger than the NBA or NFL right now. It’s about the strong tailwinds behind the industry, which will undoubtedly push esports to a level of mainstream popularity that we’re barely scratching the surface of right now.
