Ishaan Arya is the cofounder, head of business development and content at The Esports Club. He is a veteran of the gaming industry. Ishaan started his career as a content creator and writer and led ‘Just Another Gaming Site’ JAGS- one of the top portals at the time. Under his leadership, JAGS became India’s first dedicated gaming YouTube and Livestream channels making Ishaan, India’s first live streamer. During the time he was at the helm of JAGS, he also wrote articles about gaming and technology for the Deccan Chronicle. After leaving JAGS, he worked with leading brands by assisting them with consumer engagement, digital content, and eventually, online and offline gaming and e-
sports campaigns.
- How has gaming and Esports changed the face of entertainment?
Esports much like traditional sports are growing into a global entertainment phenomenon. It becomes the go-to category for reaching a young and primarily online demographic.
- What’s the most popular Esport or game that people subscribe to the most and why?
It’s hard to pinpoint one game but a few certainly do come to mind. Garena Free Fire recently broke records for the most-watched esports event ever with 5 Million concurrent viewers during the finals!
- How is The Esports Club fairing in the pandemic situation?
The pandemic has been tough on businesses across the world. We have been fortunate enough to be in an industry that has been catalyzed by the prevailing conditions with an increased in the amount of time spent online, increase in focus on digital marketing and advertising. Our successful pivot to a fully online strategy has helped us create some of the largest esports campaigns India has ever seen in just a few short months.
- How has gaming and esports innovated in recent years?
As technology grows and develops, so does the industry around it. The games today are far superior in terms of technical capabilities, to those from a few years ago. Just think of what you can do and play on a mobile today and how some of the largest tournaments in the world are mobile esports. All this is only possible due to the massive leaps both in hardware and software over the past 5 years.
- What’s driving the revenue growth for The Esports Club?
Our business has 2 major verticals. Esports services and marketing services. We either run and manage existing esports IP’s for brands and partners or we offer sponsorships for esports IP’s that we create and own ourselves like the TEC Gauntlet, the largest Valorant event in south Asia, or TEC Pro League. Our second vertical is offering marketing services to brands that are looking to engage in the gaming space, this includes running content campaigns, product launches, influencers campaigns etc