http://www.thewrap.com/why-esports-is-poised-for-winning-growth-guest-blog/
According to this article its poised for winning growth, sports rights and destination viewing. I look back at the Olympics in Rio for NBC and how they are ringing their hands after a bad ratings & blaming millennials for watching eSports which I will show now: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-19/nbc-s-12-billion-olympics-bet-stumbles-thanks-to-millennials/
The question shall be raised the same as UFC long ago, will it be a destination viewing event??? I say yes, even though lots of people say it isn't a sport for say, its similar to Motorsports back when TV is getting absolutely big in the 1970s and 1980s, they will say it isn't a sport as well... but when Auto Racing drivers now have weight training, Exercise plans, a diet regimen and all sorts of stuff, people start to realize how much of a sport and a grind it is.
eSports will actually be the very same, hopefully in my lifetime, because of a few things:
Cordcutting is a massive problem in not just regular TV channels at the moment, they actually affect the ESPNs, the FOX Sports' and the NBC Sports' of the world... Even Alexi Lalas who is a Fox Sports analyst told me on #AskAlexi last year that ESPN needs to evolve in order to keep it profitable. No wonder they are losing subscribers, some that are millennials, to eSports, plus the talking heads are a massive brain drain too.
Another issue is the massive TV contracts that these sports organizations hold and will continue to hold in the near future, which if they ran out of money when cordcutting keeps taking hold longer and longer, eSports will in my opinion will start to florish as the years go along... Will it be the next UFC? I believe in my hardest of hearts its just starting, but does it still need Twitch in order to do so? I used to think so, but now? It will need TV and the repeal of the online gambling laws that are in the US in order to push on, but other than those two stumbling blocks, its just getting warmed up.