+46 Million Watched Live Esports Event (+10 Million More Than Trump Inauguration Broadcast)
IEM World Championships Katowice 2017: League of Legends
It offers effective cure for early discharge, low discount viagra the usa libido and so forth. May experts instead of applying thrust apply a slow relaxing cost viagra online mobilizing movement. Many medicines like Kamagra, viagra sales canada , levitra, Eriacta, Silagra etc. can pump up erectile functions and can cause healthy erections. Kamagra can be found by lots of forms like jelly form, oral pills, chewing gum type purchase levitra http://appalachianmagazine.com/2020/03/23/with-grocery-stores-empty-beer-bread-is-a-thing/ etc.
Opening Ceremony, Intel Extreme Masters World Championships Katowice 2017
Photographer: Helena-Kristiansson
Esports is a fast-growing industry. Most think the events garner a few thousand attendees. Most would not expect them to be more popular that the Superbowl but the finale of the 2017 World Championship (Intel® Extreme Masters) in Katowice, Poland just set a new record for live attendance – more than 173,000 attendees – that’s about 100,000 more than the Superbowl last year. Impressive considering the youth of the industry but also a huge testament to its’ potential. This wasn’t what most interested me when the figures hit my inbox. Instead, what interested me was the unique online viewers. The Intel Extreme Masters World Championship 2017 reached more than 46 million unique online viewers. To put that figure in context, per Nielsen, the Trump inauguration TV audience was 30.6 million.
Intel didn’t get there alone; 70 linear and digital partners produced and distributed content worldwide in 19 languages. This is a money making operation. 46 million represents a year over year increase of 35% for Intel – a similar figure is being seen across the board – interest is booming in esports and it is not hard to see why. Per Business Insider, esports will be a billion-dollar industry this year and it doesn’t show many signs of stopping as more and more people become aware of the events and fanbases grow. The +$650,000 prize posts can’t hurt to grab people’s attention either.
“Intel Extreme Masters Katowice shattered all expectations with record-breaking attendance and viewership,” said Frank Soqui, General Manager of the Virtual Reality and Gaming Group at Intel. “The gaming community’s passion for esports was on display and Intel is proud to continue delivering the best gaming experiences to fans around the world, whether that’s with IEM tournaments, driving growth in VR content, or improving how people play with Intel processors and technology.”
Marketers should see dollar signs in their eyes as loyal fans are brand loyal. 74% of the industry is sponsorship and advertising compared to 9% being prize money (Business Insider). Brands have a huge opportunity to connect with fans at events and also through multiple global digital and linear distribution partners. Beyond this, virtual opportunities are growing too with +260% growth in VR broadcast popularity and engagement. SLIVER.tv created a new virtual esports stadium experience – an immersive 360° VR space that includes live stats, replays, and scores in real-time. +340,000 unique viewers tuned into the VR broadcast – that’s a huge opportunity for brands. The question isn’t ‘should we have an esports strategy?’ but ‘what is our esports strategy?’.
If you want to learn more about esports check out these two previous pieces on Forbes: esport trends in 2017 and the future of drone racing.
For more information about IEM check out intelextrememasters.com
Source: Forbes