MUMBAI: According to the PwC Sports Survey 2019 released on Wednesday by the global financial auditing and market research giant, eSports is the top ranked sport in terms of its potential for revenue growth around the world for the second year in a row.
This year, PwC split eSports into two categories: esports related to action, fantasy or shooter games (e.g. League of Legends, CS:GO) and eSports related to simulated sports (e.g. FIFA, NBA2K). These came out first and second respectively at 88.4% and 86.7% respectively according to a cumulative 563 respondents.
Simulated sports face fierce competition for fan followership from the real version of the sport. This is because football and basketball followed eSports with 80.2% and 66.7% respectively. Cricket featured the lowest in the list at 28.4%.
Fuelled by the growing visibility of the FIFA eWorld Cup, the FIFA eNations Cup and the newly launched UEFA eEuro 2020, the jury is out if eFootball, for example, will take on a life of its own and mobilise fans beyond the gaming community. As truly global sports, football and basketball seem poised to continue their growth trajectory across multiple markets as they boasting leading properties that are cementing their position as the creators of leading premium content.
An interesting change in this year’s ranking is the appearance of urban sports, which the firm added to the list and immediately made it into the top 10. This is testament to the growing crossover between sports and lifestyle.
Led by David Dellea, the head of PwC’s global sports business advisory team, the survey was conducted amongst 590 respondents who are top level executives in the industry across 49 countries including India.
The annual report gave a thumbs up to digital media rights being the key in driving the global sports industry’s growth by 9.7%. On the other hand, traditional media streams are only expected to record 4.1% growth. Yet, there is a perceived threat of greater dominance shown by major tech firms as a gateway to content.
It has been interpreted as a sign of increasing (and justified) doubts as to whether sports organisations will actually be in a position to benefit from the growing opportunities offered by digital. There seems to be a pervasive concern that the massive media conglomerates that are able to control both the creation and distribution of content may well be stealing the party.
While the overall sports market is expected to grow at a ‘robust’ 6.4% in the next 3-5 years vis-à -vis 7.4% having taken place from 2013-2018, PwC pegs Asia’s growth to rise from 8.4% to 8.7%.
This is a good sign but it still puts the continent behind the likes of South America (10.3%), Africa (9.1%) and the Middle East (8.9%) in this regard. Point to be noted of course is that the growth from these markets is off a lower base.
Lastly, it also identified innovation by sports leaders, boosting employees’ skills and motivation as well as women’s sport as the key to determining the sports market’s future till 2024.
