As one of the fastest growing areas in the sports and marketing industries at the moment, it’s probably time we started taking a serious look at the eSports landscape.

This week, Sports Industry got together some of the leading industry experts to offer an insight into the lay of the land.

The panel was made up of: Wouter Sleijffers – CEO of Fnatic

Chester King – CEO, International eGames group – bringing a new approach to eSports, encouraging players to compete for national pride

Hannes Krannich – eSports specialist, Draft Kings

Here are five things we learned!

There is a huge opportunity for sponsors, especially in UK – and that can be capitalised upon:

UK is a growth area for eSports – interesting for sponsors. @SportIndustry #SIBC pic.twitter.com/KokPsFURuF

— Katy Fearne (@KatyFearne) September 7, 2016

With eSports on the rise, there is an opportunity to sponsors not just to get involved, but get involved in a new and untapped market. It’s not just a growth area, but a new area.

eSports is still an education piece for much of the UK:

#SIBC The biggest challenge in the UK is demystifying #eSports & creating structure to support growth. pic.twitter.com/eTZsx2ZI9u

— M&C Saatchi S&E (@MCSaatchiSandE) September 7, 2016

Brands and rights holders are still very apprehensive given how new the area is. That will change as structures around tournaments and events begin to appear and which will support the growth of the ever-growing industry.

Following on from this – sponsorship in this area will increase:

#SIBC Mainstream sponsorship in #esports likely to increase as the business decision makers grow up with (more knowledgable of) it

— Alex Coulson (@Alex_Coulson) September 7, 2016

The more people are educated about the area, but more likely sponsors are to pump money into it. The more money there is in the area, the more it can target its audiences and grow even further. In the end, money makes money, but mainstream sponsors need to be convinced first.

What is the target audience? 

#SIBC panel on #eSports "we see this as a digital youth culture" @SportIndustry pic.twitter.com/oHfwKb0ouZ

— Robert W Fawdon (@robertwfawdon) September 7, 2016

ESports can tap into the digital youth (16-24) market, and engage with them on a platform they use naturally. For many young people, the digital world, computer-based gaming and social media is basically an extension of themselves. They use it naturally, and that makes engaging on these platforms so much easier.

People want shoutcasters in traditional sport

#SIBC The shoutcaster's (hosts) power to emotionally connect & energise the audience is something traditional sport can learn from #eSports

— M&C Saatchi S&E (@MCSaatchiSandE) September 7, 2016

This will create more of an emotional connection between the sport and the fans. And even football clubs can see the opportunities: reaching a new audience is surely too good to miss for clubs! They already have an audience, and the crossover between the fans of football clubs and the fans of, say, EA Sports’ FIFA series, is massive. Tapping into that by creating content around eSports and pushing it on social media is surely a winner for football clubs!

Football clubs are getting more involved in the eSports space seeing opportunity for crossover sell and ability to reach new audiences #SIBC

— Digital Sport (@DigitalSportUK) September 7, 2016