While traditional sports leagues continue to dominate the US market, esports are quickly gaining ground. Mario Ho, co-CEO of Ninjas in Pyjamas, joined TheStreet to discuss the future of esports and the potential for global growth.
Full transcript of the video below:
CONWAY GITTENS: Of course, one important scenario is the United States. You certainly have a greater presence in South America, Asia and Europe. What is needed for you to have a greater say in what is happening in the United States? What is needed?
MARIO HO: The esports or gaming market in the US is huge right now, especially considering how well the traditional sports market has performed in the US. If you look at the NBA and NFL, the monetization and valuations of those teams are the highest in the world. Of course, we want to enter that market and we already have plans for that.
CONWAY GITTENS: So what does the future of esports look like, not just in the United States, but starting globally?
MARIO HO: Okay, I think the future of esports will be to consolidate its position as a sport of past generations. So for those born after 1985 and, well, for all the kids today, I think esports will become the main sport from an audience point of view. You will see that the numbers already show that, for example. The final of the CCFPL league in China, which is one of the biggest and most watched mobile esports leagues in the world, I think it was the biggest. I think it had five times more viewership than the NBA finals.
That tells us the potential that we already have today. I think that in the future, the monetization of esports is going to be on par with NBA and NFL teams, and so will the valuations that we will start to see every week. There are home games that fill 10,000 stadiums, 20,000 stadiums, and there will be away games that do the same. So the whole sports model will be completely transferred to the world of esports. Now, I am very hopeful that the Saudi Arabia esports Olympics will be a huge success. We don't know the format yet, but we'll see. I think that will also have a big impact on the future of esports.
