COVID-19: The Business Impact on the Esports Industry: Guest Contributor, Jordan Sherman
#TheGroundFloor is excited to welcome guest contributor, Jordan Sherman for this week’s edition! You may recall hearing Jordan’s name from one of my recent blog posts, “Know Where You Are”. Jordan & I have worked together on projects with Lost Tribe Esports and have stayed in touch as great support systems for our networks.
I am very excited to welcome Jordan to #TheGroundFloor where he dives deeper into a topic that is currently at the top of everyone’s minds, COVID-19 and its impact on business.
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Background
I first met Andrew Exler through our collaborative work with Lost Tribe Esports, whose goal is to create a global Jewish community of gamers. We've had some big wins already, including bringing esports to the 2019 JCC Maccabi Games (which is basically the Jewish Olympics for teenagers) and in 2020 it will be an official medal sport. In addition, we've integrated in a variety of ways with BBYO, including hosting esports tournaments at their International Convention -- which is like the Super Bowl of conferences for Jewish teens from all over the world. Andrew has been great to work with and is an excellent member of the Lost Tribe Esports team.
Who am I?
Some quick facts about me:
Current Role
I'm the head of revenue operations for Gen.G Esports -- one of the leading esports ownership groups in the world (ranked #6 by Forbes in October 2019 global esports valuation rankings).
Career Path:
First job was with IMG Sports as part of their Arnold Palmer Division
Got my start in sports in 2010 working for Major League Baseball
Worked there until 2016 where I moved to Los Angeles to work for the LA Clippers
Helped start Gen.G Esports in 2018 and have been there ever since
Personal
Born & raised in Michigan. Growing up, I went to Ramah for Summer Camp and Andover High School. I graduated from the University of Michigan.
Oldest of five children
Got married in July 2019
A Few Words on COVID-19's Business Impact for the Esports Industry
Since this is on everyone's mind, I thought it would be worthwhile to write a blog post in #TheGroundFloor about COVID-19's effect on business and provide a few examples for how I envision opportunistic & smart companies can use this time to build a fan base, an audience and some long-term growth.
[first: a disclaimer...]
First and foremost, the most important thing is the health & security of our people. I wrote a few business thoughts here although I first want to acknowledge everyone is dealing with COVID-19 and the effects it has on them personally, mentally & professionally. This is no easy task! No one -- and no industry -- is immune to the effects of the global pandemic. So let's do our best to stick together. This blog post is intended to outline how we can do so during this time.
[ok, back to the action...]
In some respects, the esports industry is more poised than others during this challenging time:
Here at Gen.G our offices in Shanghai, China & Seoul, South Korea helped prepare us for what was to come by setting a good example in early quarantine, working from home and keeping things moving during difficult times
The digital nature of gaming and esports has helped us maintain a lot of our operations running. In fact, with many sports shutting down we've become the only game in town in some respects. We are already showing tremendous growth in our streaming numbers & viewership
Despite our ability to increase the digital audience, I think you will still see questions as to whether this increase in streaming will lead to an ongoing increase in business revenues. For example:
Companies like ESPN, Fox, CBS, etc. -- will they purchase esports media rights to help program live sports during the quarantine period?
Will brands that had advertising dollars tied to March Madness, NBA Playoffs or MLB Opening Day try to take back some of those dollars from the networks and re-allocate into esports?
How do you actually put forth an advertising campaign that doesn't make light of the current moment or rub people the wrong way?
To me, I think the answer is pretty clear:
It's OK to advertise during this time if you do so respectfully, if you do so with class, and if you provide value to the people who are home quarantined watching your broadcast.
Examples of Interesting Live Stream Opportunities to Help During COVID-19
Now, some easy activations during quarantine would be to buy more digital video on YouTube/Twitch. But...at the same time...you wouldn't be doing anything to make the quarantine situation better for those at home. As noted above, we think the brands/people that build something bigger than themselves are the ones who can make a long-term impact in the space.
In fact, some companies have already acted on the current situation, including the Phoenix Suns who live streamed to over 12,500 viewers by playing the Dallas Mavericks on NBA 2K at the same time they were originally scheduled to play (but the game was cancelled for quarantine).
Here are some other examples I've been tinkering with:
March Madness for Esports: For example, if a brand was to replace March Madness by sponsoring an online-only esports tournament featuring the gaming clubs from the college campuses -- that would be great! It would help support students and lead to great viewership.
"24 for 24: The Story of 24 People During Quarantine": We turn a live stream over to twenty-four influencers to stream a "Just Chatting" Twitch stream for one hour. The stream will take place globally and feature various students who are quarantined either on college campus or back home. The intention of this is to help students feel connected to campus and to each other even though they are quarantined at home. They can stream, they can game, they can just chat -- it's completely open-ended. The concept is to help people feel less anxious and disconnected during this time.
Live Stream Quarantined College Graduations: Where there's a loss of value there is also an opportunity. For example, many college students will be without a graduation this year. What if a brand decided to sponsor the live-stream of graduation ceremonies and feature various commencement speakers from students while in quarantine? We can still have students wear their cap & gown on a live stream and create a sense of community for those who feel like COVID-19 has taken away events they've worked so hard to create. Graduation speaks to me specifically because many students & families have sacrificed so much to get to this point and it's a shame they won't be able to celebrate physically in-person. It's a great opportunity for brands to step up and say "we got you". Lastly, I think it would be good to add a charity aspect to this and add in a donation to help pay off student loans and/or a scholarship program for the future.
Overall, I think there are a lot of strategies that can work for brands in esports during the COVID-19 quarantine period. This is a time to bring people together and fortunately for us we live in a society where our power & wi-fi still works during this outbreak. We can still stay connected and experience humanity digitally. Let's be the change we want to see in the world and help move things forward -- even in difficult times.
- Jordan
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Thank you, Jordan, for being a guest contributor for #TheGroundFloor!
I am always open to welcoming guest contributors to #TheGroundFloor! If you are interested in writing or have a specific topic you’d like discussed, please contact me!
- Andrew