In 2019, e-sports audiences reached 443 million worldwide, revealed Guillaume Neveux, business development manager, EMEA, at EVS Broadcast Equipment. They are predicted to rise to 495 million this year and 646 million in 2023. Revenues are expected to pass $1.1bn this year.
“More than 100 million people watched the [battle arena game] League of Legends World Championship, cementing its place as the most popular e-sport,” said Neveux.
With virtually all exhibitions and show events cancelled until at least the end of 2020, an RTS Thames Valley panel of guests discuss whether shows, as we have known them, have a future, and if so, what might they look like? Or will it be “business as usual”?
Watch RTS Thames Valley's series of webinar events from esports specialists to show how their technology and systems operate.
As production navigates this ‘new normal’ this session asks what is the future for the studio audience. How do we replace the energy that an audience brings?
In late May, the BBC Academy’s Marc Settle explained how to turn a mobile phone into a complete newsgathering solution during an RTS Thames Valley webinar, “Get your mojo working!”
Opening with an online audience poll, Settle asked how many of his audience were using Android or Apple iOS mobile. Two thirds said iOS, one third Android. “This is the complete inverse of the general population. Out there in the real world it’s predominantly Android, but in media environments it’s much more iOS,” he said.
Jonathan Glazier, studio multicamera director on shows that include Asia’s Got Talent and Million Pound Drop, advised the students to make their own content. “I started with a Super-8 camera [when] the filming and developing costs were very high, but now everybody has a mobile phone camera in their pocket,” he said.
The duo were talking at an RTS Thames Valley event, “21st Century Film”, in December.
The demand for higher-quality content has led to a resurgence in film, which exceeds the current demands for dynamic range and resolution – while delivering a unique film aesthetic.
Employing a team of some 27 film enthusiasts, Slough-based Cinelab has processed in excess of three million feet of film in the past six months alone.
“Without the heroic passion” shown by the event director of Olympia’s Media Production & Technology Show, said the judges, “it’s likely that to enjoy high-quality, world-class tradeshows, we here in the UK would have to travel to Amsterdam or Las Vegas”.
Mama Youth Project, which trains young people from under-represented backgrounds to succeed in the media industry, won the Community Improvement award. Over the past 12 years, the project has trained more than 520 people from schools, colleges and homeless refuges, as well as ex-offenders.
Television is experiencing a technical revolution in broadcast facilities. This new technology – video and audio over IP – uses computer networks to replace traditional broadcast infrastructures to deliver more flexibility and scalability for programme-makers.
Sports producers have already started to benefit from IP. Multiple cameras and microphones at events can be directly streamed into a centralised broadcast facility to increase the number of events covered. Scalable IP studios provide pay-as-you-go resources to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
