E-sports are becoming more popular and providing impetus

The market for e-sports is developing very rapidly. While players and fans in this country were ridiculed for a long time and the whole thing was often ticked off as a gimmick, the individual teams are about a lot of money and even the betting industry has now discovered the potential for itself and offers bets on e-sports. And after the renowned Mousesports team was able to land two heavyweight major sponsors with Vodafone and BenQ some time ago, team boss Cengiz Tüylü even had a say in Manager Magazin. According to this, digital companies in particular are increasingly coming up with the idea of getting involved in the continuously growing e-sports environment.

More and more Germans are getting involved

If you believe the numbers from Newzoo, there were recently well over 3 million e-sports fans in Germany who either watch league games of the big teams at least once a month or even actively participate in them in a team. Whereas the turnover of the branch in this country was around 50 million euros four years ago, according to the consultants at Deloitte, the amount should break the 130 million mark this year. E-sports are no longer just child's play, but have grown into a million-dollar market. And teams like Mousesports also benefit from this.

The teams no longer draw their income from prize money alone. Instead, merchandising products are being brought to the public and even the rights to streamed matches are now being granted. The TV broadcaster Sport1 launched eSports1, a special-interest broadcaster, at the beginning of last year, which reports on well-known e-sports games such as Counter Strike or DOTA 2 24 hours a day and in which the teams naturally also play an important role. The program offers a mixture of self-produced magazines and live reporting from major events.

eSports1 reports live, betting providers are involved

The pay TV channel is now being distributed on all common platforms via cable, satellite and the Internet and promises 1,200 live hours of all well-known esports events a year as well as a 24-hour program seven days a week. The editorial team is supported by experts as well as influencers from the e-sports community and promises a program optimized for the German-speaking target group.

In the meantime, even the major betting providers in Germany cannot miss out on such a million-dollar market. Regardless of whether bwin, tipico, bet-at-home, betway or sky Bet, the betting offer of the sports channel Sky: everyone gets involved and offers the usual classic program, from classic bets on the most important tournaments to live bets to bets on intermediate results. Similar to conventional sports betting, football is also the focus of esports. Games from the shooter and real-time strategy genres are also available here, but the Soccer Simulation FIFA from Electronic Arts is certainly one of the most popular games.