Why is gaming in Saudi Arabia and across the region a priority for Bigo Live?
Bigo Live has been engaging with gamers for over a year now. We believe that gamers in the MENA region can compete against the best in the United States of America and we are looking to engage with them, sponsor them, and provide them with the opportunity to develop their gaming careers.
We are actively seeking to invest and support talent both in Saudi Arabia and across the region. In fact, we are looking to collaborate with over 4,000 gamers from across the region with the intention of amplifying their own potential in the hopes of developing stars within our platform and the Bigo Live community.
Meanwhile, Bigo Live is delighted to announce our first self-owned esports IP BIGOFUN in the MENA region. BIGOFUN will act as a platform providing gamers with an enjoyable competitive environment and will cover all the popular games and different levels of tournaments.
The first season of the BIGOFUN Esports series in MENA region will be themed as PUBG MOBILE CHALLENGERS, running from 16th OCT to 6th NOV, presented by Bigo Live along with PUBG MOBILE.
Why is Bigo Live looking to invest in the Saudi Arabian Esports industry?
It was recently reported by Strategy& Middle East that the GCC gaming market will undergo expansion at a rapid pace that it could be worth USD 821 million by 2021. Furthermore, the study suggested that the video-gaming market in the Kingdom will expand rapidly and become the largest in the GCC.
Esports in Saudi Arabia is filled with people who have exceptional skill and talent. We believe that Esports can become a career for a lot of gamers as space grows and options for gamers are booming every day. It can also have a positive influence on the community.
At Bigo Live, we are excited to be able to provide a platform for gamers where they can stream their gameplay and interact with their viewers at the same time. We hope to provide a unique place for gamers to follow their dreams and uncover opportunities for themselves as well as the future of the Esports industry in their countries.
Are you planning to work with professional and amateur Esports players in Saudi Arabia? If yes, how can they gain your support?
We believe in the incredible talent and dedication of both professional and amateur Esports players in Saudi Arabia. At present, there are two ways of how we are looking to invest and collaborate with Esports players.
The first are those that we refer to as celebrity gamers. These are well-established gamers that have credible reputations in their respective countries – in this case, Saudi Arabia.
The second would be those gamers who are looking to develop their skills and establish their own presence. They are looking to start their journey to become a celebrity gamer on Bigo Live.
Bigo Live welcomes all levels of gamers who also have a passion for live streaming. In fact, there is a dedicated Gaming channel in the app itself where gamers can Livestream to a broad audience to showcase their unique skills and talents. We will also provide guidance and exposure to players to help them quickly fit into the community and gain fans. For those promising talents, Bigo Live is happy to offer more collaborative opportunities – both online and offline – so that they can make the best of their high-quality content.
To help identify the best-of-the-best Esports players in Saudi Arabia, we will also host online leagues where users will compete against each other and this will enable us to find those gamers that are good enough to represent their country/region in the global gaming events.
We are now actively recruiting gamers and welcoming collaborative opportunities in the MENA region.
For any inquiry or resource, people can contact @bigomenagaming on Instagram and Twitter to reach our staff.
Bigo Live is primarily a live-streaming application. How can live streaming help Esports enthusiasts at a professional and/or amateur level?
Prior to COVID-19, live streaming was on a growth path and projected to account for 82% of all internet traffic by the end of the year. The lockdown period further contributed to significant growth in usage statistics. As it relates to Bigo Live, we have around 5 million monthly active users (MAUs) just in the Middle East and North Africa alone.
Furthermore, Live streaming is now a big revenue generator for brands as well as for established and emerging influencers. Globally, live streaming is predicted to generate USD 70.5 billion of revenue in 2021 and USD 184 billion by 2027.
There are millions of people around the world that tune in to live streams both on Bigo Live and other platforms to view people compete in Esports games and tournaments. Building a highly engaging audience is something that many broadcasters want as it motivates them to continue to develop their own skills and talent, which in turn will attract more fans.
Once they have a platform that generates high-quality Esports content with an engaged audience, brands and organizations will look for more opportunities to collaborate giving broadcasters the opportunity to monetize their streams and – in theory – potentially make it a career for themselves.
As a result, from a professional level, it can help generate more sponsorships and endorsements from brands and organizations. At an amateur level, it can further enhance the facilitation and development of a community and fan base around the Esports broadcaster whilst encouraging them to keep creating quality content to the point where they can become amateur-pros and perhaps even seasoned Esports professionals.
This is just the beginning of how live streaming can have a positive impact on individuals that actively engage in Esports as players and fans. The future is ripe with opportunity and we are certain that live streaming will prove to be extremely beneficial to all stakeholders involved in this particular sector.
