Esports and mobile poised for growth in Asia

Saturday 10th of March 2018

Esports betting is set to become one of the world's most watched sports, driven by younger generations in Asia, says Michael Maerz, managing director betting at Betradar.

What kind of trends do you foresee in South East Asia over the next few years?

In the next few years we foresee esports becoming one of the most watched sports worldwide. This is being driven by younger generations, especially in Asia. Obviously, the demand for more sports content, such as live video streaming and betting entertainment tools to engage fans is always increasing. Use of mobiles in Asia is also popular, which is conducive to the consumption of esports and live sports betting and streaming. So, in general terms, with the increased demand beyond the traditional sports like horse racing, basketball and football, operators should look to advancing their technology and content solutions and becoming more mobile friendly if they want to keep up with the trends.

How is your company responding to these trends?

We are one of the world’s leading suppliers in terms of sports data and technology with offices located across the globe. But one of the keys to our success is our commitment to quality over quantity. This means we’re not just responding to trends but remaining at the forefront. One of the ways we do this is by listening to our customers. By doing so we also try to pre-empt their demands so instead of following trends, we are anticipating them. As a technology leader, we are also trying to create our own trends in terms of niche sports and new products.

What products are you currently offering in Asia?

Given that we are based worldwide we are offering all of our existing products and services in Asia, which includes our 360-degree offering for betting operators, with everything from fixtures creation, monitoring and settlement, pre-match odds, live odds, live data, our Managed Trading Services, Virtual Sports products, live video streaming, betting entertainment and media tools plus hosted content solutions. But we are also in the process of developing a few additional products that will be of particular interest and popularity in the Asian market.

What have been the biggest developments in Asia for you in the past year?

We have acquired several new clients across the last 12 months and have continued to maintain productive relationships with our existing ones, which have included expanding our offering to many. We are now proud to say that Betradar has become a household name throughout the region. We have also formed partnerships with third parties to deliver some exciting new products into the market as well as acquiring new and extending existing sports data rights deals. In June last year Betradar entered a major collaboration with leading Chinese sports data provider, Beitai Digital, which has also helped us bring new data solutions to the Chinese market.

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