In today’s ever-evolving world of ours, more and more Internet users turn to the relaxing pleasure of video streaming, eSports, and other forms of digital entertainment to unwind after the hassles of the day. As expected, they seem to be having a whale of a time due to the ease technology brings to make their lives fun, simpler and productive efficiency-wise. Never in the history of integrated marketing communication has video content been this useful to businesses. This is so because, in the old business order, traditional campaign managers relied predominantly on pictorial elements, shapes, and lines to drive home their points.
Today, with the advent of video streaming, the narrative has changed. Technological advancements have brought about real-time product demonstrations through sound audiovisual materials people can easily interpret as opposed to what existed in the old order where campaign messages, for instance, proved needlessly complex for an average person to grasp. Another breakthrough is the ease with which information is accessible, fast and appealing to the visual senses. This is especially effective in this era of short attention span where people are though impatient, yet willing to be entertained and, still in the loop of important happenings around them.
What then is video streaming? It simply is a technological innovation that makes it possible to transfer audiovisual data in a continued stream either for immediate processing or for playbacks. This technological evolution has made a transfer of video materials and accessibility easy across boards within splits of seconds. It is important to note that video streaming is not peculiar to entertainment alone. It has helped the creative, technology, media, public relations, advertising industries, and so on to improve the value of their products and services to consumers.
The noticeable impacts of this aspect of technology are obvious in the field of Modern Medicine. For example, webinars are organised through video streaming platforms as avenues for sensitisation programmes on the present COVID-19 pandemic, cancer awareness, first aids, and epidemic controls among other things. Viewers achieve quite a lot from ‘do it yourself’ programmes thereby removing bottlenecks for health specialists.
For the media and advertising industry, players in this field leverage video streaming to reach and inform their targets in record time with quality images and audiovisuals. This has bridged so many gaps as it reveals consumers’ demographic information which sellers need to engender online sales.
Not to be left behind, the educational sector has embraced this invention as well. Schools – primary, secondary, and tertiary – have benefited from e-learning comprising online lectures, seminars, training for teachers and students alike. This adjustment in the system, made necessary by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has now become the new normal as many institutions use this avenue to reach students in the safest, cost-effective, yet efficient manner.
Since video streaming has gained speedy acceptability across the globe in a record time, there is more confidence that it will continue to explore and expand new frontiers as time goes on. Currently, Augmented Reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are also fast becoming the thing.
It is the core of the new ICT world, as major players are already buying into its benefits. Websites such as Twitch, YouTube, and Microsoft’s Mixer are capitalizing on live streaming and integrating another dimension of popular media: video gaming.
Twitch has successfully etched its name as a leader of video live streaming services for Gaming and eSport. These two are currently some of the most popular forms of online entertainment there are today. When Twitch launched in 2011, its core focus was on eSports and Gaming entertainment but it soon grew to boast of over a 3.2million visitors per month.
In the wake of 2014, the tech giant, Amazon, noticed the growth and subsequently acquired Twitch. Today, the outfit is one of the biggest players for big-time streamers like Tyler and ‘’ ninja’’ Belvins. It is pertinent to let the reader take a peek into the evolution of Gaming before the current shift in paradigm. The entire Gaming and eSports industry went through a lot of changes from the ground up to the 7th Generation in 2013.
Since 1958, game titles like ‘Tennis for Two’, ‘Ping Pong’, ‘Space War’, and more, formed the roots of the Gaming industry. In the coming years, however, Arcade classics built on these success stories and invented newer titles like ‘Break Outs’, ‘Space Invaders’, ‘Asteroids’, and ‘Pac-Man’ which broke into the mainstream and is still legendary today.
Early personal computer game titles such as ‘Maze War’, ‘Zork’, and ‘Rogue’ redefined the new genres and while Atari 2600 version of E.T (Extra-Terrestrial) might have been disappointing, hobbyist coders continued with aplomb, giving rise to game titles like ‘Elite’, ‘Exile’, and the ‘Tetris’ we have today. In 1983 while the Gaming market crashed Arcade was unperturbed as Donkey Kong, Dig-Dug, Pole Position, and Mario Bros cropped on their list before Nintendo and Super Mario became household names.
Nintendo grew from leaps to bounds with exclusive titles like Pokemon. This was shortly before Sony arrived with PlayStation, Resident Evil, and other user-friendlier titles. Much later, personal computer gaming witnessed another lift in 2006 with the advent of titles such as ‘Gears of War’, ‘The Elder Scrolls V’, ‘Bio-shock Infinite’, and ‘The Last of Us’.
For optimal experience, it is advisable to consult experts and make use of recommended personal computers to get the most out of live videos and eSports. With that said, the progressive evolution of technology with regards to video streaming, and eSport illustrates the necessity of keeping up to speed so as to derive maximum benefits out of technological advances. In addition, the impacts of these innovations serve to highlight significant milestones in human and societal development.
The big question is simply this, does Nigeria have a strategy around developing an eSport development policy or we still think it is a fad that is going nowhere? Whether we are prepared or not, the industry is expected to his nearly $2bn by 2023 which is no joke by any standards. This is the time to encourage eSports in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.
CFA is the co-founder of techbuild.africa, a tech and innovation platform
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