SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Writing for SBC News, full-cycle betting software provider BetInvest shares its vision for the esports industry, touching upon the importance of separating traditional titles and ‘eGames’ whilst analysing possible trends for the future.
Since March, the interest towards esports, in general, has increased by 20% among the 18-25 age group, and by 50% among the 26-35 age group. This was nothing of a surprise for the betting industry: classic sports had left a vacant place for esports to occupy when all real-life events became postponed for an unspecified period of time.
Taking into account the number of fans, who in the blink of an eye lost their main source of entertainment, the success of esports was easily predictable.
This trends’ shift allowed betting platforms to get stable income even while their biggest area of operation was temporarily shut down.
“Now, when the first wave of hysteria has passed, we can finally analyse the current esports situation and share BetInvest’s strategy that allowed our clients to generate profit during the peak popularity of competitive gaming,” commented Max Krug, BetInvest CEO.
Advantageous strategy for esports boost
The area of competitive gaming generally lacks accuracy. To improve the situation, BetInvest conditionally divides the sector into two major branches: classic esports like Dota 2, CS:GO and League of Legends, as well as the alternatives which we call ‘eGames’.
eGames are the same familiar sports – football, basketball, tennis – transferred into the online sphere, which makes them a perfect substitute for traditional sports.
Thanks to this division, it is possible to notice how players’ interest has shifted from unquestionable esports domination towards the superiority of eGames. Currently, the ratio of income from eGames to traditional titles stays at 5:1. Moreover, aggregated income from the sector is also heavily in favour of eGames by taking up 84 percent of the market.
The phenomenon is possible to explain: classical esports have a higher entry barrier, which is often inaccessible for adult bettors. The customer has to possess a strong knowledge of game specifics and the balance of powers among the esports teams to bet on Dota or CS:GO.
At the same time, eGames preserve the illusion of familiarity: although the outcome of the competition solely depends on the skills of the player, the names of well-known football or basketball teams make it seem like the same rules that are used for real sports predictions can be applied to eGames matches.
The collected data gives a clear indication of the necessity for esports and eGames separation. Disjointed audiences with different engagement triggers don’t allow for a single advertising methodology, while the difference in engagement rate and games’ popularity makes it reasonable to temporarily concentrate on eGames while maintaining focus on the ever-shifting market trends.
eGames that generate the highest profit
Different eGames demonstrate different results in terms of the investment/profitability proportion. According to BetInvest insights, the games that should become the focus points for betting enthusiasts are FIFA, NBA, Tennis World Tour and NHL20.
FIFA is an eGames leader in terms of the players’ pool. Looking at CyberLive! Arena – one of the top cyber leagues that generates qualitative eGames content in a non-stop mode – we can note that their Twitch events, dedicated to FIFA matches, have the highest number of viewers compared to the other eGames streams.
NBA and FIFA go elbow to elbow when it comes to the players-to-income ratio. Yet, the higher popularity of FIFA and football in general leads to the domination of FIFA in terms of generated profit. If NBA events attracted the same number of bettors as FIFA does, it would have no competitors among the other eGames disciplines. This is the area of improvement one can exploit when building their own business strategy.
Tennis World Tour and NHL20 are two very promising eGames disciplines. Despite the comparatively small audience, Tennis World Tour has the largest average bet size among the other eGames (FIFA and NBA included.) NHL20, at the same time, has demonstrated a breakneck growth throughout the past four months. If promoted correctly, they could complement one’s existing betting opportunities and attract the pool of tennis & hockey fans – and gaining more players is the goal every business seeks.
With regards to traditional titles, in May the esports niche experienced a twist when Dota took the lead on the graph of aggregated profit. At the same time, CS:GO is the game that demonstrated a stable growth of profits for the past four years, the last six months included. It can be concluded that esports are still a highly valuable niche that is worth one’s money and time investments – it’s just that, currently, eGames show better results.
How BetInvest strategy allowed clients to multiply their income
When real-life sports went down due to COVID-19, a search for the alternatives became the utmost priority for all betting businesses – and BetInvest offered one.
Thanks to a vast assortment of white label solutions, each and every client of BetInvest was able to update their platform with the products of interest. The solution of the highest demand was – unsurprisingly – eGames extension.
eGames solution broadened betting possibilities of BetInvest clients, which, consequently, allowed them to hop on the eGames trend and sustain a flood of new players even during the COVID-19 crisis.
“The global lockdown has only strengthened the positions of businesses that took esports seriously,” said Krug. “Looking at the traceable growth of charts before the March events, we can expect that the influence of the alternative betting options will only increase, with esports leading the trend.
“What recently was an ‘inside dope’ for a small circle of fans would most definitely evolve into a legitimate thread, losing the “alternative” prefix in the process. With BetInvest, a business can painlessly enter this niche without spending time on the adaptation and development of its own operational strategy.”
