Game on: 3 years on TV, NODWIN Gaming hits it out of the park with esports

Television is no more home to traditional sports. Going beyond cricket, football, kabaddi, and the Olympics, Indians are spending time on esports which has also found a place in the Asian Games and the Olympics. While there are many sports leagues, this new unconventional sport has survived and thrived on the small screen for three seasons.

Speaking to MoneyControl, Akshat Rathee said, “A true definition of a sports property would be being on TV and not just on digital. Our numbers on YouTube are phenomenal but the legitimacy that a property like this brings to advertisers and to sponsors is via TV. Remember, those are the people who are spending money. For instance, our title partner (for Season 3) Android was very happy that we (BGMS) are on TV. While they can do digital marketing, they need us to levitate their experience from not just being an online digital property. TV may not have the numbers, but the impact that TV has on decision-makers is still very high. And that’s how it (BGMS) survived (for three seasons).”

Esports on TV

Viewership statistics signal a strong reach of BGMI’s Master series on TV. Over the first two seasons, BGMS reached over 100 million across linear and digital platforms.

When compared to the popular sports league the Indian Premier League (IPL), esports falls short. Last year, IPL, in its 16th edition, recorded 50.5 crore viewers on television and 44.9 crore viewers on digital.

In its third year, the overall BGMS tournament garnered over 4.75 million hours of watch time and an average viewership surpassing 1.8 million, making it one of the highest-watched BGMI tournaments in India.

“A typical BGMS player falls between the age group of 16 and 24. On YouTube, you’d figure these to be closer to the 20 to 26 age group. But on TV, viewers fall in the age bracket of 24 to 30. Also, many more women are watching esports (BGMS) on TV than they actually watch it online or on an OTT. And the reason for that is because it is just to enjoy watching the game. People who are watching the tournament on OTT would have a 90 percent chance of being players of the game. People who are watching it on television have less than a 50 percent chance that they are players of the game.” the MD said.

The final day of Season 3 reached a peak concurrent viewership of over 3.5 lakh on YouTube and more than 3.8 million views across the Hindi and English streams. The third season of BGMS was also broadcast in Tamil.

“Localisation is a big factor in terms of boosting the viewership. Hindi was always the first language then we were able to go out and build English. Tamil is trending extremely well. We were even trying some experiments with Punjabi this year. IPL now runs in 10 languages and I think we’ll get there too and we’re definitely getting to four (languages).” Rathee said.

Like languages, the category of brands is also expanding for esports on TV.

Brand expansion

This year the tournament attracted brands like Android and Garnier Men along with existing partners such as Crunchyroll, Red Bull, TVS Raider, and Philips OneBlade.

“We’ve crossed about 11 different partners this year across both OTT, on-ground and TV. Male grooming is a category that is growing for us and is renewing with us. Two and four wheelers’ categories are growing for us so is pop culture. Endemic cell phone category too is growing. Last year, we had about four different categories which has increased to 11 this year. So, the number of categories has improved and the revenue per category has increased,” Akshat Rathee said.

Most of the tournament’s ad spots are filed by sponsors. “Our fill rates are currently sitting above 70 percent. But most of our fill rates actually come in from sponsors which indicates deep engagement,” Rathee said, referring to the rate at which an ad network fills advertisement requests.

Esports superstars

Brands like Gillette, which previously partnered with players like tennis star Roger Federer, signed up esports player Jonathan Amaral.

The MD said in their partnership talks with brands, they tell them that if they want to reach the youth of the country, they have to understand who the youngsters think are superstars.

“A (esports name) Scout (aka Tanmay Singh) with his hair, with his tattoo, with his car is a very Virat Kohli equivalent. On the other hand, a Mortal (aka Naman Mathur) is a much more disciplined boy and is a Tendulkar equivalent. So, we have seen esports phasing from the Tendulkar era to the Virat era, to the new era. We have now people like Jonathan and a newer crop of talent coming up. That’s the beauty of the sport, a younger person and a hungrier person comes along every year,” he said.

New players are joining the esports pool from across markets.

“I would call it the ‘Dhonification’ of cricket, kind of an example. The total number of people who are now getting involved with this are coming from Bhilai, Mangaluru, Warangal, Ranchi, among others as more players look to become the next superstar of esports like Scout, Mortal and Jonathan. You’re not curtailed by a hardware requirement where you have to be from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru. We saw that in cricket earlier where the ability to get into good (cricket) academies was dependent on one being a rich boy. But with that democratization of opportunity, that has allowed anyone to be super special,” the MD said.

Growing esports market

Professional esports teams are expected to increase to 35 this year from 22 in the previous year. Some of the prominent esports teams in India include Team Soul and Team X Spark.

According to a FICCI and Ernst & Young 2024 report, the esports market in India is growing with game revenues increasing to Rs 1,200 crore from Rs 1,100 crore in the year before. Prize money across major tournaments increased to Rs 18.1 crore in 2023 from Rs 15 crore in the previous year. Prize money is expected to reach Rs 22 crore this year.

Eyes on Esports Olympics.

With esports being included in the Olympics, India has one more sport for a medal prospect. China finished fifth in the League of Legends event during the Asian Games in Hangzhou. The titles for the inaugural Olympic Esports Games, which will be held in Saudi Arabia in 2025, have not been officially announced yet.

Rathee expects the decision on titles to come in the next three to four months. “The Olympics (esports) starts next year so from January onwards there will be qualifiers. I think the finals are in August and September. I think the decision (on esports game titles) between all the federations should be expected before the end of the year,” he said, adding the decision of how the titles will be chosen for the Olympics took the maximum amount of time.

“One of the big things was the commercial companies, publishers cannot decide game titles. Then the question of who decides what eSports to put and this discussion went on for about six to eight years. Later it was decided that people who are already part of the Olympics will take a call. So, if there is boxing as part of the Olympics, then the boxing federation will decide which game truly defines their community. The power has now gone back to the sports federations, which are already part of the Olympics to choose titles,” he said.