Outcome Uncertainty and ESports Viewership: The Case of Overwatch League

Abstract

The uncertainty of outcome hypothesis (UOH) explains the consumption determinants of sports fans in professional sporting events. However, only limited studies exist in the esports field, and the relationship between UOH and spectatorship in esports is still unclear. This study examined the UOH in esports by analyzing the number of viewers of an esports league on an internet-based streaming platform (Twitch). We measured within-game and ex-ante expected game uncertainty and estimated their effects on the number of real-time viewers. The results show that within-game uncertainty significantly impacts the number of viewers, but ex-ante expected game uncertainty did not.