African perspective on the Gaming eSports Trends survey
As content creators increasingly adopt direct-to-consumer models, video gaming has become a legitimate competitor to TV and movies. What are the implications for strategic planning? Product and partnership development?
Deloitte launched a survey on the trends in gaming eSports in 2019. In the survey it was found that “gaming platforms attract millions of daily viewers in the United States due to the close interaction between eSports pros and their fans, both of whom often stream their own game play live. In addition, however due to challenging operating conditions across traditional TV markets, companies may be looking to add lower-cost content compared to scripted content, which could include game-related content.”
Anita Fuller, Consulting Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT) leader at Deloitte Africa, believes that executives in the African TMT industry will need to factor both the trends towards digital media consumption via online gaming as well as the relentless expansion of broadband internet connectivity on the continent into their organisational strategies.
The survey found that “the growth of mobile gaming is expanding the gamer user base and could provide opportunities for Telecommunication, Media & Entertainment (TM&E) companies by opening cheaper and easier access to gaming markets. Thus there could be greater potential to enter the video gaming market.”
Anita believes that competition from international TMT entities will be fierce as multi-nationals target Africa’s growing population of connected consumers. Traditional players, partnerships and market convergence will play a key role in responding to increased competition.
The Deloitte survey found that “a key behavioural trends across media and entertainment consumption is that consumers are more actively building their own collection of services and tailoring their own entertainment experience, which increasingly includes options outside traditional forms of entertainment. In addition, the gaming penetration level among millennials is higher than Pay TV penetration, an indication that younger adults are less likely to be satisfied with traditional entertainment choices.”
Anita believes that in Africa, “digital media consumption is morphing at an unprecedented speed, and survival depends on anticipating the key value drivers of the ongoing convergence of digital media channels, and moulding products like gaming and eSports that deliver this value.”
