Page 29 - AdNews May-June 2020

“There are still people who don’t consider esports a sport but if you look at the way it’s managed and you look at the audience and their behaviour, I don’t know how much more like a sport it could be.”
Despite this boom, gaming and particularly esports are still frequently viewed as activities confined to a small group of teenage boys who sit, alone, endlessly playing video games. In reality, as generations move up, gaming and esports is a common activity used to pass time, keep enter- tained and interact with friends. And it’s showing signs of being a serious threat to more mainstream media players.
In its 2018 fourth quarter report Netflix said it was more concerned about the threat of Fortnite, a popular game streamed on YouTube, than enter- tainment giant HBO, which would seem like a more natural competitor.
“We compete with (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO,” the company said. “When YouTube went down globally for a few minutes in October, our viewing and signups spiked for that time.”
While the local gaming sector hasn’t reached the heights of interna- tional markets, such as in the US or China, it’s still widespread.
Every two in three Australians play video games, according to a joint report by Bond University and the IGEA. Their Digital Australia 2020 report also shows that mobile phones play a big part in fuelling the sector, with 70% of people using mobile games to play and 65% using consoles. It also found that 78% of Australian video game players are aged 18 years or older.
“The massive king is mobile gaming, it was a $134 billion industry last year and is on track to being a $155 billion industry this year,” Traore says.
“If you look at the app stores, last year 72% of every dollar that went through the app stores went through a game, with all the other categories sharing the remaining quarter.”
Traore highlights that the entire gaming industry over the next five years is expected to grow into a $300 billion to $450 billion industry, putting it on path to dwarf every other entertainment category.
Meanwhile, 2.5 million Australians, or about 14% of the population, class themselves as esport fans, according to a report by Dentsu’s sport and entertainment marketing agency MKTG. Globally, Deloitte pro- jected media revenue for esports to hit US$1.3 billion this year, just above podcast’s projected US$1.1 billion. But while audio has been in
“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
the spotlight for years, the atten- tion for both esports and gaming only picked up with its spike dur- ing lockdowns and those that are familiar with the industry say it deserves more attention from brands.
One barrier to advertising in the space has been the stigma sur- rounding gaming.
“Most marketers know it’s a big thing and there’s significant opportunity, however I’d say a combination of a well-embedded stereotype of the reclusive geek and the fact it doesn’t feel mainstream results in a one-dimensional view that it’s ‘not right for their brand’,” says Chris Colter, Initiative national strategy director.
“Truth be told, if you dig into gaming – whether sport or social- ised – there’s millions of areas to carve meaningful sponsorship and integration.
“Outside of brand alignment, I would say the other big generalisa- tion that stops brands from explor- ing gaming is brand safety.
“I’ve had many conversations where clients have said they can’t be seen to align to ‘violent games’ and given Dota, Call of Duty and Fortnite are the biggest platforms in gaming you can see how they arrive at that belief - although, a lot of these cli- ents happily put their ads before war movies so go figure.
“But that’s a one-dimensional view of the opportunity here, and it’s our job to educate clients and help them find their role in the gaming to esports spectrum.”
Another barrier is cost. Publicis’ O’Rourke says early inter- est in gaming and esports caused a spike in sponsorship costs but that’s beginning to taper off.
“There was a lot of hype, a lot of interest around the gaming and esports space truly from a data perspective,” O’Rourke says.
“The numbers spoke for them- selves. There are a huge number of Australians who game on a reg- ular basis and who watch lives- treams of other people gaming on a regular basis.
“That got a lot of brands really excited, and I think a lot of brands jumped in too quickly without hav- ing a really clear and concise strat- egy. Therefore what you’ve seen
Melbourne Esports Open 2019
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