eSports: The Bumpy Ride to ROI
The eSports industry continues to enjoy explosive growth in many dimensions—revenue growth, a cadre of increasingly popular influencers and social media stars, an expanding and diversified audience, and innovative programming within gaming platforms. However, eSports is still experiencing the growing pains of a nascent industry: Many organizations remain unprofitable, audience preferences seem to shift with great velocity, and game developers largely monopolize control over their respective ecosystems. What has to happen for the industry to maintain its authenticity among fans, but also derive benefits for game publishers, team owners, advertisers, and athletes? Can eSports become a source of sustained and growing enterprise value for team owners and investors? Industry veterans will address topics ranging from the value of team ownership and content platforms to team/talent management, venue operations, and publishing.
Moderator
Ben White
Chief Economic Correspondent, POLITICO
Speakers
Sam Englebardt
Co-Founder and Partner, Galaxy Digital
Peter Levin
Managing Director, Griffin Gaming Partners
Kristen Salvatore
Vice President Commercial Director, Esports, Twitch
Ari Segal
CEO, Immortals Gaming Club