Look around – the growth of eSports is undeniable. Even boomers are starting to get it.
The ever expanding digital world has catapulted eSports into households across the globe. Games aren’t just about playing with your friends anymore. The competition is fierce. With ever increasing connectivity the battles get tougher and the stars become even bigger.
What is Esports?
Esports stands for ‘electronic sports’. It’s a form of competition that has been around since the 80s – people compete using computer games to see who’s best.
By and large, those unfamiliar to esports don’t respect the discipline. They don’t realize the amount of technical skill required to be the best. But the prizes make it clear that esports is here to stay.
The DOTA 2 international championship had a prize pool of $34.3 million in 2019. Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite, pledged to provide $100 million for Fortnite esports prize pools in the first year. The Fortnite World Cup in summer 2019 turned children into millionaires. Kyle Giersdorf or ‘Bugha’, a 16 year old American, won the solo World Cup and claimed a prize of $3 million.
Esports is becoming a legitimate career for many people. Whether it’s winning major tournaments, becoming a famous streamer or even making a living from online wager matches, there is a lot of potential in esports right now.
But it’s not just big cash being thrown around for no reason – the revenue and viewership numbers are shooting up.
Esports growth
Way back in 2012, the global eSports market revenue was just $130 million. Flash forward to 2019, the projected figure is ten times that at at $1.1 billion and is expected to reach nearly $1.8 billion just three years later in 2022.
This climb in annual revenue is fueled by consistent viewership growth. A report by Newzoo found that in 2018 the total esports audience was 380 million people, which maintained a 13.8% year on year increase. The same report predicts a total audience of 557 million by 2021.
Naturally as viewership grows revenue increase. The money comes from all kinds of sources – advertising, sponsorships, merchandise, ticket sales and more. Alongside this, the esports space becomes more trustworthy. Brands are less hesitant to get involved when they can see consistent growth figures and large engaged audiences.
But it’s not just about the companies. Viewers like to feel involved and get a thrill from esports too.
Esports matches happen every day. Much like sporting events, there are people around the world that want a piece of the action. Bethereum is capitalizing on the growth of esports by providing a blockchain based social betting solution that tackles some key issues with traditional betting. It’s a new, innovative platform for a growing, innovative industry.
Bethereum and Esports
Bethereum is a peer-to-peer betting platform focussed on sports and esports. There aren’t any calculated odds – players places their bets with other individuals to bet on a desired outcome, creating the odds themselves. The entire platform is built with the aim of bringing fun and social elements back to betting.
A key focus for the growth of Bethereum is honing in on the ever expanding esports market to capitalize on an audience that is enthusiastic about social engagement and gamification.
In order to bring communities together, Bethereum has introduced propositional gamification elements like leaderboards, live chats, special events, achievements, avatars and more. They are aiming to increase retention and social engagement and judging by these metrics, propositional features have been very successful.
An interesting insight here is that traditional betting companies struggle to offer esports betting and remain profitable, due to the difficult task of setting reliable odds. With Bethereum’s peer-to-peer betting solution every bet is operationally profitable with a 4.75% commission taken from the winner. This enables Bethereum to continue operations and scale their platform to meet the needs of esports betters over the long term.
Expansion of Bethereum
The Bethereum team are eager to scale, but are dead set on playing by the rules – an admirable stance to take in the cryptocurrency world that should help in the long term.
There is already a fully working sports and esports betting platform, but Bethereum are in the process of obtaining their betting license. Presently, the platform has been used as free-to-play, mostly as a proof of concept. However, Bethereum are reportedly about to receive a Curacao license, so the service can be commercially tested in selected territories. Further expansion will be done in accordance with proper locational licensing and legal requirements with esports as a key target market.
*Disclaimer – Bethereum are our Media Partners and therefore this content is sponsored by them. The fees paid by this project are used to pay for The Daily Chain salaries, dev work, hosting services, travel expenses etc.. that are required to make this company a success and continue to provide the community with great content on a daily basis.
