What game publishers can learn from sports broadcasting

An near-endless bounty of content creation, avid fans who share their experiences, an established industry dealing with new content creation and distribution technologies — sound familiar? Today’s sports franchises have a lot in common with the world of gamer videos and esports. From a financial perspective, the data about why gaming should take a page from sports is compelling. According to report by AT Kearney, the sporting event business has been growing at a healthy 7 percent per year, and it’s projected to reach $90 billion by 2017. Even more impressive, the global sports industry is now close to $700 billion, with spending on sports worldwide growing several times faster than global GDP.

What can game publishers learn from the sustained growth of the global sports industry? Here’s a look at some of the most successful aspects of the sports broadcast business model to offer some answers.