ESPN announced a cutting of the team that is dedicated to coverage of the gaming. Even though this decision comes in parallel with the overall job reduction across the company, why does the world-known giant reduce the focus on the growing industry? Login Casino reviews the latest esports news and tendencies and tries to explain the situation with ESPN.
The subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, ESPN, is one of the most active TV broadcasters and media outlets that widely covers esports. They joined the growing direction in 2016 and realized diverse working directions in this sphere since that time.
Thus, the firm opened a social media direction and gained more than half a million followers on Twitter. ESPN is also one of the most popular TV broadcasters of esports events, covering notable tournaments in League of Legends, EA-made NFL and NBA sports simulators, and Overwatch as well. The company has its own journalists and experts in the industry that help to make the media product more attractive.
Is it an adverse sign for the whole esports industry?
The announced shortening of the esports vertical is a part of general jobs' cutting – the biggest in the last 41 years. Even though the broadcasting of gaming events is mostly made via streaming platforms, ESPN's step seems to show the trend – TV isn't the most appropriate way to follow and cover the gaming industry. A similar outcome can be made after reviewing BBC's attempts to enter the esports broadcasting market, which is limited by particular cases and covering a few events per year.
That is probably the conflict of principles and approaches used in traditional television and online streaming. The latter uses more an informal approach towards the language, decorations, and the quality of the video, which is, however, more interesting for the younger audience. TV standards towards public media coverage require more finances and preparation while bringing less audience and sponsors' attention as the outcome.
Although ESPN isn't fully closing its esports editorial and probably is just reacting to the economic crisis caused by a coronavirus, one can consider its step as an adverse sign. The coverage of esports via online streaming platforms means less control over the censorship, which is vital for the younger generation's upbringing process.
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