There is no doubt that the popularity of e-sports broadcasting is growing. Just this past August, more than 10,000 people gathered in New York to watch the regional championship for the video game “League of Legends.” The increasing popularity of e-sports has resulted in WME/IMG partnering up with TBS to bring live video-game broadcastings to almost 90 million homes in the United States. But is the interest there?

The broadcasting of live video-game competitions has taken off globally. In a recent study released by NewZoo, a gamer research company, the number of e-sports viewers has grown dramatically. There is no doubt that the interest is there globally. But after reviewing the following chart, you will notice that there is only a slight amount of growth with e-sports viewers in North America.

E-Sports Audience

The lack of interest among North American users is the main reason why previous attempts to bring e-sports to primetime television failed. Over the past few years, ESPN has attempted to enter the e-sports market by airing live video-game tournaments. The company quickly discovered that their online digital broadcasts were more popular than the live televised broadcasts. ESPN concluded that there was no interest in watching such events on tv.

When asked how WME/IMG plans to reach viewers across the country, Tobias Sherman, head of WME/IMG’s eSports division, responded by saying “It’s my firm belief that there are many e-sports fans who don’t know they’re e-sports fans yet.” There are some challenges that TBS and WIME/IMG will have to overcome, in order to be successful in airing live video-game tournaments. The stigma of violence being associated with video games is a topic that TBS and WME/IMG will most likely have to address. By televising aggressive and violent games to nearly 90 million homes, parents may get upset and discourage their kids from tuning in.

I have never followed e-sports and I rarely find myself watching television. Like many other millennials, I prefer using on demand media streaming websites, like Netflix. In order for TBS and WME/IMG to be successful, they will need to be able to grasp the attention of millennials throughout North America. The two companies announced that they will be airing live tournaments every Friday night, for 20 consecutive weeks. The companies obviously want to create a following and a large fan base. However, by broadcasting such events on a Friday night, will they truly be able to gain enough popularity?

It will be interesting to see if this attempt to bring e-sports to live television will truly be successful. But what do you think? What makes this broadcasting of e-sports any different from the past? Is there enough popularity for it to stay on television? How many of you would tune in to watch?

Click the links for more information regarding this announcement:

http://fortune.com/2015/09/24/video-game-tournaments-primetime/

http://qz.com/511197/video-game-competitions-are-about-to-become-network-sports-events/