Esports’ Rise on Television

Without live sports on television for the last few months, networks that typically air sports programming (like ESPN’s family of networks and Fox Sports 1, among others) have turned to alternatives like esports to help fill time. Though “traditional” esports were already on TV prior to COVID-19, quarantines seemed to yield a rise in this programming, as well as a new genre of esports involving celebrities and/or athletes playing video games while holding active conversations with one another over live-stream.

The result of this programming has been a larger awareness of esports, and a new interest in how networks and brands can get involved in creative and compelling presentations of esports on TV — both now and in the future. It’s potentially introduced gaming-endemic brands like iRacing to the wider sports audience, too.

You can check out the report to get a glimpse of popular esports programs from March through May 2020, plus top brands and networks, and attention-grabbing creative from brands that advertised during esports events.