Page 28 - AdNews May-June 2020

Investigation
Caption
Melbourne Esports Open 2019
LEFT: Dare Iced Coffee’s campaign on Twitch
Lifestyles under lockdowns may have given the gaming sector a boost into the spotlight, but those familiar with the space say it had already entered the mainstream and is set to stay there even after restrictions start to ease.
“The advertising industry has no idea about the sheer scale and size of gaming in terms of how it dwarfs all the other entertainment categories by a mile,” Lance Traore, AdColony Australia and New Zealand country manager, tells AdNews.
“Over the next few years, it’s just simply going to take over everything more and more because the technological involvement is going to benefit gaming in a way that no other industry has.”
Esports, on the other hand, is the professional league of gaming. It has competitions and teams similar to traditional sports, with pop- ular titles such as Call of Duty and League of Legends. Players and fans gather for tournaments held globally, with Australia hosting The Melbourne Esports Open, which grew its audience by 40% in the sec- ond year to attract 17,000 fans in 2019. Prize money for these local events run over $100,000, but globally this can reach much higher levels, with The International 9: Dota 2 Championship having a prize pool of more than US$33 million.
“Esports is another sport and another form of entertainment,” says Ashley O’Rourke who heads up Publicis Sport and Entertainment.
“The audience has their heroes and their teams they follow religiously, just like you might follow a NRL team or AFLW team.