Esports

Misfits CEO Says Leagues Should ‘Look to Diversify’ from Twitch and YouTube


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In late May, Riot Games Database-Link-e1521645463907 announced that it would be introducing a Pro View feature to its syndicated League of Legends Database-Link-e1521645463907 broadcasts. Now fully rolled out in key regions including Europe, North America, and China, the tool lets viewers access point-of-view streams for all matches, all for a once-per-split fee. 

On a recent episode of the TEO Podcast, Ben Spoont was asked if the concept could be a key future revenue driver for esports as a whole, or if it was merely an experiment. In the Misfits GamingDatabase-Link-e1521645463907 CEO’s opinion, it is certainly the former. “I think that any esports platform and league should be looking at ways to diversify away from the Twitches and YouTubes of the world.”

 

 

Spoont points out that, in traditional sports, media rights increase in value because there are multiple bidders. Looking just at the NFL, you have Fox, CBS, and other networks still vying for the national, Monday Night and Thursday Night football packages. Compounding matters is Amazon and Twitter, which are also now bidding and driving up the value of those rights. 

“In gaming, there are really only two big players, and now the third being introduced with Caffeine Database-Link-e1521645463907 coming into the mix in the last year,” said Spoont. The 21st Century Fox-backed Caffeine app is a partner of Misfits Gaming and its affiliated Overwatch League Database-Link-e1521645463907 team, the Florida Mayhem Database-Link-e1521645463907. However, the top League of Legends competitions in North America and Europe are broadcast only through YouTube and Twitch Database-Link-e1521645463907, with the audience share skewed vastly towards the latter.

The Pro-View product sits separately to these livestreaming platforms, however. Its independent live broadcasts and video on demand (VOD) versions of matches are loaded with game statistics, face camera feeds, and indicators of the player’s mouse/screen movements. Most importantly, purchases of Pro View are split between the viewer’s region and the pro teams competing in it.

“It’s a direct revenue source to the fans, for the league ecosystems,” said Spoont. “Then the other effect is the media rights. The Twitches, YouTubes, and Caffeines of the world have to react, and have to pay more now to make up for that difference.” 

 

 

Only the market will decide whether watching professional LoL players at work is worth the price of admission. To that effect, Riot Games will supply its streaming viewership data—regular broadcasts and Pro View alike—to Nielsen’s Esport24 sponsorship valuation product. The standardization of viewership metrics will be a deciding factor in whether these premium viewing experiences will ease the industry away from exclusive media deals, or take the industry back to the drawing board.







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