Fnatic founder and CEO Sam Matthews believes that esports is growing exponentially right now, partly thanks to the impact the current pandemic has had on the industry.
Earlier in the year, Fnatic produced a report looking at the impact the pandemic has had on the esports industry, which revealed a number of surprising facts such as the massive growth in Twitch viewership during the opening months of the pandemic lockdown and how popular Valorant has been.
Talking about the report Matthews told me that he believes esports is growing at a massive rate right now, and the industry needs to capitalise on that growth.
“Our biggest takeaway from capturing and analyzing industry data was that esports is growing exponentially and traditional entertainment and sports organizations have taken notice of the successful esports model,” said Matthews. “While the esports model has always had the keys to success with a continued rise in prominence with a larger global audience, the pandemic accelerated the awareness of the phenomenon. The pandemic highlighted the importance of digital streaming platforms and traditional broadcasters followed suit, reproducing the successful esports model. With broadcasters on board, we anticipate seeing the line of distinction between traditional sports, entertainment and esports continue to blur.”
The pandemic saw a lot of traditional sports organizations enter the world of esports, or put more of a focus on it with the big traditional events not happening. The likes of F1, some of the biggest soccer teams in the world and the NBA put more of a focus on their esports activities over the lockdown period, which provided the industry with a big boost.
