Vietnam’s e-sports present golden opportunities

The pandemic caused a series of disturbances in the traditional sports industry but created a golden chance for e-sports and game creators.
Vietnam’s e-sports present golden opportunities ảnh 1Many game creators are estimated to earn billions of đồng each year from their activities. (Photo: cafef.vn)
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The pandemic caused a series of disturbances in thetraditional sports industry but created a golden chance for e-sports and gamecreators.

Experts said that with a savvy, large, dynamic and well-integrated youthpopulation, Vietnam was catching up with the e-sports industry and it was anattractive growth market for the gaming industry, with one of the youngestpopulations in the region and the highest percentage of adult gamers in theworld in 2020.

Vietnam has 77 percent of people online, of which 61 million people usesmartphones and up to 90 percent are 'Gen Z,' which are the maintarget of game/e-sports creation. The e-sports industry has manyopportunities for brand collaboration.

The number of 3G/4G subscribers in Vietnam accounts for 53 percent ofmobile phone users. At the end of 2020, three major carriers, Viettel,Vinaphone and Mobifone, officially deployed 5G testing. Smartphone brands havealso integrated 5G chips on the latest phone models, which will enhancethe local e-sports.

Recently, Vero released a paper on e-sports in co-operation with DecisionLab which said brands could enter the e-sports market through in-gameadvertising, cross-platform advertising, tournament sponsorship, team/playersponsorship and co-creation.

The paper estimates the local video game market in 2020 to reach40 million players, while 18 million people have played eSports, and about86 percent of e-sports viewers claim to interact with the brand ads, andproducts recommended by gaming KOLs were among the best sellers.

An industry report, "The state of gaming creators in Vietnam" launchedby Appota Group on March 3, said: “Besides playing games directly,watching livestreams is an emerging trend in which, the numberof players, audiences and content creators has increased,making the gaming creators ecosystem develop and link more closelytogether.”

Most experts in the industry said the explosion of the Game Streaming waveand social networking platforms were at their peak.

According to Appota's report, up to 80 percent of the community said they spentmore time watching gaming creator videos during the outbreak. The averageaudience spends 3 hours per day playing and watching e-sports, secondonly to traditional sports, about 3.4 hours per day,adding 45 percent of the esports audience were hardcore fans,about 9.1 million people.

The report said many were exposed to e-sports every day and considered ita form of daily entertainment.

According to the survey by Appota, the target audience ofthe creators was mainly younger generations; the largest age groupwas 18-22 years old with 40.8 percent, followed by 13-17 year-oldswith 35 percent.

The report also said the most popularplatforms included outstanding applications for games suchas Facebook Gaming, YouTube Gaming, Nimo TV and Booyah. The game was also seenon non-gaming platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Game creators with a large fan base on social networks in Vietnaminclude Viruss with 4.2 million followers, Ha Mi with 1.2 millionfollowers, Pewpew with 4.1 million followers and Nam Blue with 3 million.

When the creators livestream on platforms, they get fixed streamsalary and shares from ad-break ads on the livestream, said thereport, adding that up to 40 percent of the creators got paidfrom their work and from the reputation of beinga creator from brands and fans.

Though the report did not clarify the precise pay of thecreators, many are estimated to earn billions of dong each year.

Appota’s report said other notable sources of revenue included attendinge-sports tournaments, selling merchandise, and donations from fans.It added that focusing on stream content and building a loyal fancommunity helped creators receive donations from the audience as avariable source of income.

While showing that the profession of gaming creators hasbecome popular and a way of earning for young people, the reportsaid the profession was only recognized among young people and thoseworking in the industry. At the same time, the rest of the worldwas not very positive about the career.

The explosion and development of the internet and gaming/e-sports led tohigher competition in Việt Nam, and investment costsfor equipment, advertising, personal marketing, training were abig challenge.

At the same time, Appota said that as theprofession was new, there were no real standards for vocationaltraining in the country, so most streaming agencies developedtheir creators through working, and there was no yardstick tomeasure the training and direction of young creators.

Pham Ba Duy, director of Appota OTA Network, said: “There will be fewcriteria for a successful creator, such as sincerity, which is a coreelement of keeping engaged, that is building the relationship betweenstreamer and viewer.”

Duy told creators to work hard and stay true to themselves bothin real life and on-screen to get closer to fans.  Duy mentionedenthusiasm and individuality as two important points of beingsuccessful in the profession./.
VNA

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