The eSports market presents investors and fans alike with significant future prospects. One problem in this nascent market, though, just like many others in formative years, is fragmentation. Information about eSports can be found in countless different locations. While this is good in that it will help the broader market to grow, it creates a problem for diehard fans in the space. Often, they must check multiple sources to get all of the content they want. This requires time, energy, and it can even result in higher costs for the market’s fans. It also stifles the ability to find parallel or new content for consumption. 

One company working on a solution to this fragmentation issue is Juked.gg. Through its website, the company provides ‘all’ of the content eSports fans could want. It provides streaming and video services for 35 different eSports games. It allows users to look up stats about their favorite teams or players. Through Juked, fans can access content from Twitch and YouTube, plus they can see tournament information. News content, social profiles, fantasy eSports opportunities, and other gamification opportunities will abound. Management envisions an active community that will benefit from the one-stop-shop model. 

Since launching, Juked has done well to grow its presence. Today, the company has around 50,000 MAUs (monthly active users). This figure only continues to grow. The average time spent on the site per visit for its registered users is an impressive 90 minutes. It has partnerships with several different businesses, including Riot Games, G7, and DreamHack. As it grows, the firm will likely strike up partnerships with other companies as well. This will allow it to grow third-party content on its app, but it wants to put out its own original content as well. This will include behind-the-scenes videos, interviews, and customized shows. Though the business already has a website, it continues to work on its iOS and Android apps.

Revenue opportunities for the business are manifold. They include a premium subscription with pricing tiers of $4.99 and $9.99 per month. These will include access to exclusive badges, site/app features, and the aforementioned smorgasbord of original content. Management also wants to generate revenue off of fantasy eSports and other games. Sponsorships, advertising, and selling valuable data to interested buyers have also been disclosed. Though not mentioned, selling goods through its platform and taking a cut of the sales price could be another avenue for the business to explore. 

Though Juked has big plans, the company is still quite early in its development. Yes, its MAU numbers are incredibly impressive. However, it has not yet launched any monetization features. When asked, the company said its goal is to do this in the first quarter of its 2021 fiscal year. As such, revenue last year was $0. In 2019, Juked generated a net loss of $354,187. Its operating cash outflow for the period wasn’t much better at $351,747. As management ramps up feature development, this bottom-line figure should worsen before it gets better. This will require patience and capital to get through.

From a user perspective, the market opportunity for Juked is significant. Back in 2019, the number of people who watch eSports was 443 million. Of these, 245 million were frequent/enthusiastic viewers. The remaining 198 million just casually checked the market out. These figures are expected to rise to 495 million, 272 million, and 223 million, respectively. By 2023, they should grow further to 646 million, 351 million, and 295 million. By comparison, the average NFL viewership by game is 15 million to 18 million. For the Super Bowl, this rose to 99.9 million in 2019. 

In time, it’s likely the industry will find better ways to monetize this big market. But for now, from a pecuniary perspective, revenue streams are still small. According to one source, the market for eSports was worth $950.6 million in 2019. This year, it should grow to more than $1.1 billion. Of this market, China is the largest customer base, responsible for $385.1 million of the industry’s sales. One source of sales is major events, of which there are 885 planned for this year. Combined, they should generate ticket revenue of $56.3 million. The largest source of sales in the market is sponsorships. These are responsible for $636.9 million in revenue. Next are media rights, worth $185.4 million. This is then followed by merchandising and ticket sales, collectively worth $121.7 million. 

A second source saw the industry worth a bit more in 2019. It pegged the opportunity at $1.08 billion. Its forecast is for the industry to grow to $2.98 billion by 2026, implying an annualized growth rate of 18.35%. Another source thought similarly, taking the market from $823.4 million in 2018 to $2.17 billion by 2023 using a growth rate of 18.61% each year. Another report cited an 18.35% annualized growth rate to take the opportunity from $1.08 billion in 2019 to $2.98 billion by 2026. Not all forecasts agree about the size of eSports. One pegs the space today at $1.1 billion but assigns it an annualized growth rate of 24.4%. If this comes to fruition, the industry will expand to $6.82 billion by 2027. 

At this time, there are three key players behind the management team at Juked. All three of them are co-founders of the business. The main individual in question is Benjamin Goldhaber, the firm’s CEO. Previously, he served as the Director of Content Marketing at Twitch. Before that, he was the Gaming Outreach Manager for Justin.tv. And prior to that role, he served as the co-founder and Head of Marketing and Partnerships at Games Cast TV. 

Next in line is Chris Chan, Juked’s COO and CPO. Previously, Chan was the co-founder and CEO of Visual Core LLC. Before that, he founded and served as CEO of ChanmanV TV. And right before that, he worked as the Head of Strategic Partnerships, Marketing, and Product at HearthSim. 

The last key individual is Delan Tai, Juked’s VP of Engineering. Previously, he worked as the CTO of Woovit. Before that, he was the Engineering Manager at Roostr, previously serving as Roostr’s CTO before it was acquired. And his role leading up to that was as a Senior Software Engineer for Bolo Software. 

Our team has decided to rate Juked a ‘Deal To Watch’. The company’s management team has stellar experience. The concept the business is based on is intriguing and the market, while small in some ways, is growing rapidly. Traction so far is really impressive and the business’ monetization strategy makes sense. This is not to say that Juked is an obvious winner though. The company still has no revenue and won’t until early next year. During this time, it continues to generate net losses and sizable ones at that. The $8.5 million valuation cap on its SAFE is also pretty lofty. Perhaps the biggest concern, though, is that it does face an issue related to differentiation to some extent. While it’s clear the firm’s business model means that it acts as an aggregator of content across multiple channels, can the firm convince enough people from those channels (like Twitch and YouTube) to migrate some or all of their viewing-related activities over? This is a valid question that needs answering and only time will tell.