1. Talk us through your vision for Esports 2022 – what’s going to be key this year – growth or retention?
Esports is growing and Altenar is making decisive steps to incorporate this further, like accessing Oddin’s Esports catalogue. The key for Esports and Altenar is the exponential growth in this niche, that’s only growing further as a result of the pandemic. There’s a shift happening and we envision Altenar being one of the leading providers of Esports content to our ever-expanding audience.
It appears that the greater adoption of Esports is bringing with it a younger clientele to the world of sports betting and that leaves room, for Altenar at least, to adapt to the challenges this brings … like selecting the correct content and somewhat preempting trends and patterns per country, which we predict will begin to rise in the coming months as more countries lean towards Esports content.
2. Looking back at the last 24 months, what major milestones have you seen that you believe to be key to powering the vertical’s transition from niche to mainstream?
The pandemic is a major milestone, for instance, at least that has spurred the niche to its mainstream journey, with gamers finding it easier to access virtual gaming than accessing sports events … as they simply couldn’t take place.
A growing culture of content-reliant and content-heavy industries adds a layer of empowerment to the niche because it’s simpler to cross from a Netflix tab to a League of Legends tab via phone or desktop. This is also an area that has grown exponentially, mobile usage, and because of this access to virtual games and Esports has heightened to gaming on the go and gaming on the work commute.
These past 24 months have grown the need for Esports access greatly and Altenar has witnessed and adopted this.
3. Most Esports suppliers would make the case that data is the major differentiator when it comes to setting your brand apart from the competition – how essential do you believe it to be?
Data is essential to Esports and a major differentiating factor as well, but this can be said for all sports betting potentially. It is when data, content and experience meet in the middle that we see a differentiator essential to setting a brand apart.
This is one of the reasons Altenar is so well received, it’s the tech operators need and the experience bettors want … not only that, we also have access to several data providers so that's a major factor in what sets us apart as well.
4. What sets different Esports data providers apart? Are the likes of Genius and Sportradar leaders in this field, and how far has the integrity of data come compared to other live sports in the last two years?
The content the provider offers and the data is what sets providers apart. Definitely Betgenius, Oddin and Sportradar are leaders in the field and this is the level Altenar aims to be for their Esports offering.
As the games being bet on are virtual the data, outcomes and minute-by-minute play are less likely to be rigged. On top of that, there is a tremendous difference in latency times.
Over the past two years bettors new and seasoned are beginning to trust Esports results and data more, which could be one of the influencing factors of the niche reaching the mainstream.
5. Last but not least, looking ahead to 2023 and beyond – what’s your vision for the vertical and its growth? With a current average of up to 30,000+ live events each month, how much do you see this multiplying?
It’s going to keep growing, even as it stands now, more people are assigning themselves to Esports and the plethora of content available in the vertical, even synthetic football. Of course, live betting will always have a place in sports betting, but we predict greater adoption of Esport in 2023 and beyond.
If the vertical remains or grows further, the amount of live events could definitely double in size because the essence of it being virtual means that a host of games or events could be created that simply haven’t been thought of yet and that’s very exciting.
