The competitive gaming sector is going from strength to strength. In 2023, the global esports market was valued at $3.8 billion. By 2027, industry insiders expect revenues to reach more than $5.4 billion. Online viewership figures are also soaring. In 2020, around 435 million people were watching esports events. By 2023, online audience size had swelled to 531 million. While these numbers are certainly impressive, tournament organizers do face challenges when it comes to broadcasting events to international audiences.
Esports Are Enjoyed Across the World
While esports enjoy universal appeal, the same can’t be said of traditional ones. Basketball might be huge in North America, but there’s relatively little appetite for it in Asia and Europe. Baseball has a similar issue, with this American staple seen as a niche pastime in other corners of the world. Because audience demand for these sports is regional, franchises and broadcasters don’t have to think too hard about scheduling.
The same can’t be said for esports. Let’s take League of Legends as an example. This battle arena game is beloved across the world and has become an anchor for the esports sector. When it comes to Tier 1 competition, there are 9 professional-level leagues.
In Asia, you have the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK). Established in 2012, it’s one of the oldest esports leagues around. In 2013, China launched the League of Legends Pro League (LPL), while the League of Legends Japan League (LJL) was founded in 2014. Vietnam was the most recent Asian country to enter the fray, with the unveiling of the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) in 2018.
In Europe, there’s the long-standing League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC). In North America, you have the League Championship Series (LCS). The Liga Latinoamérica (LLA) caters to teams based in South American nations, expect Brazil. However, Brazilian esports has its own enterprise in the Campeonato Brasileiro de League of Legends (CBLOL). The final regional league is the Pacific Championship Series (PCS), bringing together teams from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and across Oceania.
The Trouble with Time Zones
Unlike other sports, competitive gaming is geared toward online audiences. Anyone with a reliable internet connection can access a live stream and watch their favorite teams battle it out for a spot in an international tournament. However, there’s a disparity in viewership when you take a look at esports leagues across the world.
The Spring Split of the Pacific Championship Series averaged just 18,000 viewers in 2022. However, the LEC Spring Split averaged 270,000 viewers, with a peak viewership of 723,000.
Time differences between competing countries in the Pacific Championship Series can be considerable, never mind when compared to countries in a different hemisphere. If event organizers aren’t recording events and making them available online, there’s little opportunity for international audiences to discover these leagues and continue to engage with them. While there’s a lot of enthusiasm for the Summer and Spring LCK schedule outside of South Korea and Asia, South American and Pacific leagues don’t enjoy the same kind of interest.
How Tournament Venues Impact Streaming Numbers
Major international tournaments typically bring in bigger audiences, with local fans tuning in to watch homegrown teams take on challengers from across the globe. However, time zone differences still present a real problem for the esports sector.
The League of Legends World Championship returned to the United States in 2022, the first time the event was staged in the country since 2016. The United States is spread across six main time zones, which can present scheduling problems for local audiences. However, broadcasting becomes even more challenging when you start thinking about audiences based in Asia, Europe, and beyond. Anybody based in the United Kingdom wanting to watch an event in New York kicking off at 8pm would have to stay up until the early hours. For fans based in South Korea, the same event would start at 9am.
How Can Scheduling Problems Be Solved?
There’s only so much format restructuring organizers can do to make esports events more accessible to audiences based across multiple time zones. Even if organizers provide high-quality streams of major events, would-be viewers located in far-flung countries still need to adjust their own schedules accordingly. While there’s only so much that can be done to increase live streaming numbers, consolidated viewing figures can be improved if organizers provide easy access to recorded content.
Conclusion
In the ever-expanding world of esports, the challenges of time zones persist, creating hurdles for international viewership. While the global market thrives, diverse leagues face disparities in attention. Scheduling complexities, especially evident in major tournaments, raise questions about accessibility. The key to overcoming these obstacles lies not only in format adjustments but in embracing recorded content accessibility for a truly global esports experience.
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