看别人打游戏将很快发展为一个十亿美元行业

    人们对观看视频游戏竞赛的热爱程度，会超过职业体育比赛吗？确实如此。

    市场研究公司Newzoo和体育行业研究公司Repucom最新的研究显示，职业视频游戏竞赛（也被称为电子竞技）正在以前所未有的速度增长——预计截至2017年，全球观众数量将超过3.35亿人（1.45亿活跃粉丝和1.9亿普通粉丝）。与之相比，全美橄榄球联盟全球的粉丝数量为1.51亿，包括1亿美国球迷。

    报告显示，全球约有22亿体育迷，人均每年可产生56美元的收入。电子竞技的粉丝人均每年为该行业贡献2.2美元收入，其中不包括游戏收入。Newzoon对2017年的电子竞技收入预测，采用了人均3.2美元的保守估计。在观众基数增长的带动下，全球电子竞技行业的收入将在两年内增长到4.51亿美元。

    Newzoon公司CEO彼得•沃尔曼表示：“这表明，电子竞技可以与全球前十大体育运动或全球知名联赛相提并论，如全美橄榄球联盟或欧洲冠军联赛等。如果电子竞技爱好者产生的人均收入以更快速度增长至7美元，那么，到2017年，电子竞技行业的规模将达到十亿美元，并且拥有无限的增长潜力。”

    沃尔曼认为，随着电子竞技行业的持续飞速增长，它必将成为与全美橄榄球联盟等大型传统体育联盟争夺赞助商的强劲对手，这只不过是时间问题而已。

    沃尔曼表示：“随着电子竞技市场日益成熟，其收入结构将与传统体育更加接近，2014年，传统体育57%的收入来自赞助和出售媒体版权。”

    英特尔、可口可乐、美国运通、金霸王电池、HTC、英伟达和明基等大品牌已经进军电子竞技市场。随着观众人数增加，更多传统体育的赞助品牌将投身电子竞技行业。沃尔曼表示，许多公司已经开始与调查研究公司商讨吸引电子竞技粉丝的最佳途径。

    沃尔曼称：“传统体育的优势在于，整个行业组织有序，完全面向品牌曝光与广告宣传。而电子竞技行业则是碎片化的全球性行业，很大程度上属于在线行业。大品牌很难将对传统体育的赞助和广告宣传模式复制到电子竞技行业当中。”

    沃尔曼表示，各大品牌若想获得目前的低门槛带来的收益，必须考虑到消费者通过所有数字渠道参与这一事实。

    传统体育竞赛与电子竞技的主要区别之一，是用户通过直播流在亚马逊视频游戏网站Twitch和YouTube上创建的内容的受欢迎程度。

    沃尔曼说道：“电子竞技，包括业余游戏比赛场景，所产生的视频内容与观看时间，已经超过了全美橄榄球联盟。对于传统体育行业来说，威胁并非来自知名的电子竞技锦标赛，而是消费者观看玩竞技游戏这一更大的趋势。只要消费者愿意创建和分享游戏经验，并围绕这些内容形成社区，便会产生源源不断的内容。”（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    审校：任文科

    Could people enjoy watching video game competitions more than watching professional sports? Yes.

    According to new research from Newzoo and Repucom, professional video gaming (named eSports for electronic sports) is growing at a record pace—with a projected global audience of over 335 million fans (145 million active fans and an additional 190 million casual fans) by 2017. In comparison, the NFL today has a global fan base of 151 million, including 100 million American fans.

    The report shows that on a global scale, there are 2.2 billion sports fans that each generate an average of $56 per year. ESports fans currently generate an average of $2.2 per person per year, without game revenues taken into account. Newzoo’s current eSports revenue projections use a conservative $3.2 average revenue per fan figure for 2017. With growth mainly driven by a larger audience, global eSports revenues will still rise to $451 million in two years from now.

    “This renders eSports comparable to a Top 10 sport, or globally renowned leagues like the NFL or Champions League,” Peter Warman, CEO of Newzoo, says. “If the average revenue per enthusiast grows faster and jumps to $7, eSports will be a billion dollar business by 2017 with even more growth potential going forward.”

    As eSports continues to grow at a record pace, Warman believes it’s just a matter of time before big leagues like the NFL begin worrying about eSports as serious competition to sponsors.

    “As the eSports market matures, its revenue mix will closer resemble that of traditional sports, which saw 57% of revenues come from sponsorships and selling media rights in 2014,” says Warman.

    Big brands like Intel, Coca-Cola, American Express, Duracell, HTC, Nvidia, and Benq have already tapped into the eSports audience. And as this audience grows, more brands that sponsor traditional sports will be investing in eSports. Warman says a lot of these companies are already talking to his research firm about the best ways to connect with eSports fans.

    “The nice thing about traditional sports is that it is so organized and completely geared towards brand exposure and advertising,” Warman says. “ESports as a whole is fragmented, global, and for the most part completely online. Big brands find it hard to fit their traditional sports sponsorship and advertising models onto eSports.”

    Warman says brands will have to embrace consumer participation across all digital channels if they want to reap the benefits of the low entry that now exists.

    One of the big differences between traditional sports leagues and eSports is the popularity of user-generated content via livestreams on Amazon-owned Twitch and YouTube videos.

    “ESports, including the amateur competitive gaming scene, already generates more video content and viewing minutes than the NFL,” Warman says. “It is not the top eSports championships that are a threat to traditional sports like the NFL, but the larger trend of consumers watching each other play competitive games. The amount of content is endless, as consumers love to create and share experiences, as well as organize themselves in communities around this content.”