How the storytelling ability of television will add significant value to esports
The Esports industry has grown into a serious player despite having very little coverage on traditional TV. There are a spattering of televised esports tournaments, and broadcasters including BT Sport, ITV and Sky Sports have dabbled in bits and pieces of esports broadcasting, but on the whole esports has bypassed TV to go direct to fans via the likes of Twitch, YouTube and Facebook.
However, during a panel debate at the DTG Summit this morning, Michiel Bakker, CEO of Ginx Esports TV (pictured above) said he believed, given the global interest in esports, there would soon be more widespread adoption of esports on TV.
He said there were a number of key advantages TV could give esports.
“TV is good at telling stories and engaging on the human side, whereas esports are not very good at that. TV knows how to work around the story tell, to make people famous. And there’s also the big shiny floor potential for traditional TV too, bringing TV studio quality to live esports, which will help take esports into the mainstream.”
Also on the panel was CenturyLink director of content delivery, transport and IP, EMEA, Rory McVicar, who added: “Esports don’t have the legacy of broadcast, which is an advantage. Similar to Netflix, they can start afresh on TV.”