The Key Differences Between TV And Gaming
We are now approaching the end of a decade that delivered seismic shifts in the way we consume media and source entertainment. In 2010, prestige cable networks like HBO, AMC, Showtime and FX dominated popular culture and enjoyed a virtual monopoly on small screen entertainment.
That all changed when Netflix began producing its own content in 2012, moving from Lillyhammer to Orange is the New Black and House of Cards. Now it is an absolute gargantuan, producing everything from period Korean drama and German horror to films tipped for Oscar glory, with ferocious competition from the likes of Amazon Prime and Apple TV spurring it on to greater heights.
Yet the rise of streaming services like Netflix is not the only major shift that we witnessed in the past decade. Another sector that has enjoyed phenomenal growth is video gaming, which generated $131 billion in 2018 – making it bigger than Hollywood and the music industry, although still a fair bit smaller than TV – and it set to grow to $300 billion by 2025.
A Cultural Phenomenon
A major development in the past decade saw Justin.tv launch Twitch as a standalone streaming platform for the video gaming sector in 2011. It allowed gamers from all over the world to watch their peers in action at a number of increasingly lucrative tournaments, and it quickly blew up. Esports has now become a cultural phenomenon, with close to 500 million viewers worldwide.
Amazon snapped up Twitch in 2014 and it has since driven a huge upsurge in user figures. Google is trying to fight back with YouTube Gaming, and Microsoft is displaying considerable ambition with its rival, Mixer, having paid superstar streamer Ninja a reported $100 million to defect from Twitch.
They all realise the vast potential of competitive gaming as a spectator sport, while many major companies are sponsoring tournaments. Millions of fans tune into the big tournaments, like the League of Legends World Championship and Dota 2’s The International, and a huge economy in esports betting and wagers has also developed.
Seizing Ad Spend
The rise of esports could have a profound impact upon TV in future. You can watch esports on TV – ESPN, Disney and ABC are among the broadcasters to show Overwatch League games, for instance – but the vast majority of viewers opt for Twitch, YouTube and Mixer.
They can find exciting action to watch on a 24/7 basis, 365 days of the year, as there is always something taking place. Many of these viewers do not even own a TV, and they may be unprepared to sit down and watch a show riddled with commercials. Advertisers realise they cannot reach these young, tech-savvy consumers through traditional marketing methods, so they are increasingly teaming up with esports providers to get their brand messages across.
Facebook and Google have already taken massive bites out of the total ad spend available, and the rise of esports leaves even less for traditional broadcasters – and indeed newspapers and radio stations – to go after. That could lead to a drop in the overall quality of the television shown on traditional networks, making streaming services even more dominant when it comes to TV.
Key Differences
There are other key differences between gaming and watching TV. Gaming is a lot more immersive and interactive, whereas television is a more passive pursuit. TV requires almost no specific involvement on the viewer’s behalf, while gaming requires the player to actively shape the experience with the decisions they make and the controls they give.
They both have their place: sometimes you may simply want to relax and be entertained, enthralled, educated and amused, so TV represents a great option; while at other times you may be keen to take an active role in the entertainment and pit your wits against fellow gamers or AI opponents.
Esports sits somewhere in the middle, as you can watch competitive gaming without any involvement, but then play games like CS:GO, Overwatch and Dota 2 and try to emulate the professionals.
It is also perfectly positioned to enjoy great success among youngsters that have short attention spans. They enjoy watching a gaming tournament on one screen, while watching a streamer react to it on another window, chatting to their friends on a third window and engaging with their peers on social media on another. These youngsters might baulk at watching an hour-long period drama, as it does not provide instant gratification.
Learning from Video Games
One historical difference between TV was that the former was scheduled and the latter was not. Gamers could pick up Legend of Zelda or Grand Theft Auto whenever they pleased, without having to sit through mind-numbing ads.
TV has now adapted to this via instant TV services. You can watch Game of Thrones in your pyjamas at 7am with a bowl of cornflakes, or have your friends over for late night beers to watch the Starks and Lannisters battle it out.
There are many more learnings that TV execs can take from the growth of video games and in particular esports. Viewers of competitive gaming tournaments are young and tech-savvy, so it is crucial that content providers adhere to the highest standards in terms of resolutions and frame rates, while working hard to cut out mistakes. Esports producers now set a very high bar when it comes to online viewing quality, and TV producers must work hard to clear it.
A Quality Driven Focus
Esports fans are often watching the action on mobile devices and that creates a highly personal viewing experience, while any mistakes will jar heavily. Quality is key for esports producers and they have been keen to jump on technological advances. For example, Electronic Sports League has teamed up with EVS to introduce live feeds from observer PCs placed inside first-person shooter games like CS:GO, which are recorded by live production servers in the computers’ native 120Hz format, allowing replays to be created with LSM remote control panels and resulting in a smooth clip with no loss of frames.
Esports producers also pay a great deal of respect to social media. Tournament organizers have created edit suites and real-time editing tools that allow immediate social sharing of in-game clips and content, which ramps up the viral potential and maximizes the impact. The producers interact with fans quickly and effectively. TV producers can adopt some of these techniques to build up larger and more passionate communities around their platforms, and both industries can learn lots from one another and thrive side by side in the years ahead.
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