E-sports and gaming are about entertainment but more often than not, brands make the mistake of using both terms interchangeably, although these two verticals stem from the same medium of video games, often feeding off each other.
There are some significant differences between esports and gaming that needs to be understood, both platforms are simple and user-friendly, hence the successful record hit in developing countries and other emerging markets but when it comes to the e-gaming and e-sports industry, there is an array of angles that brands can approach when activating to connect to their target audience.
Wale Adegoke, founder of LoveFootballing.ng discusses how we can support startups in the space to increase engagement.
CFA: Olawale glad to have you on tech trends today.
Olawale: Hi CFA, thanks for having me.
CFA: Let me start by getting your views on how the ecosystem has fed to date.
Olawale: Tech ecosystem in Lagos Nigeria and Nigeria it’s actually moved on in leaps and bounds even from the last two years, there have been so many improvements especially when it comes to talent.
Talents are getting more opportunities to learn more skills and because so many startups are coming up, they have opportunities to actually try their hands on these skills, you know, designing and developing different kinds of products, working on those products so on the talent side, it’s grown in leaps and bounds.
Funding also has grown a lot but there is still a lot more that can be done in terms of funding, especially for different kinds of industries, I feel like the focus of funding is more on you know, will I say the regular subject or the usual suspects so.
CFA: What is the usual suspect?
Olawale: I was just about to say it. It’s been difficult for startups in some specific maybe lesser fancy fields to access some kind of funding, it’s a bit more difficult, and the usual suspects’ fintech and you know, education, the technology around education also ed tech and then, of course, health tech. Those are usual suspects in my opinion and I think a lot of people will agree with me.
CFA: Okay so, let’s drill down to you know, sports tech and you know, what tech startups in the sports space are doing. What are some of the things that you see are the innovations coming out of that.
Olawale: The innovation is really about participation and engagement, it’s just about deepening that and increasing that we know and I am privy to this data that billions are spent daily in Nigeria on sports betting.
Now people want to make money from the internet and when you search on google how to make money on the internet, it’s people are trying to make money from the internet… (watch the full video here)
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