I made a mistake comparing The Game Awards to the Super Bowl and the World Series. The reported 154 million viewer metric for The Game Awards represents total reach across platforms, which differs from the average audience for every minute of the Super Bowl and the average audience for the entire event for the World Series. It is a meaningless comparison, and I should have scrutinized it more closely before publishing.
The ‘apples to oranges’ comparison, while significant, does not materially impact the core analysis that The Game Awards offers an innovative platform strategy or its successful transformation of industry events into multi-sided markets connecting publishers, digital storefronts, and audiences. The fundamental thesis about business model innovation—particularly its ability to monetize attention through premium marketing inventory while maintaining platform independence—remains sound.
As such, I’ve removed the comparison from the original analysis and updated the visual. I want to thank the readers who contacted me and apologize for any confusion.
I’m happy we have The Game Awards, even if it’s not perfectly or 100% fairly executed. Beyond just the viewership, it gives the global industry another reason to come together in person and is immensely valuable for that reason alone. E3 was the same deal - it wasn’t executed perfectly, but it served a great purpose and was worth having.
Just FYI I think the Super Bowl comparison isn't correct. The 123.4 million figure is "average viewers." The total figure, which is more comparable to what's being shared by Keighley, is "more than 200 million viewers (202.4) watched all-or-part of Super Bowl LVIII across all networks." The Game Awards do not have a bigger viewership than the Super Bowl. Have not checked the other broadcasts.
The only source is a VGA press release that doesn't add up: 2M on YouTube and 1M on Twitch. Where is the rest? Joost ran too quickly with this one, and now that it has spread and become popular, he likely won't correct it.
I made a mistake comparing The Game Awards to the Super Bowl and the World Series. The reported 154 million viewer metric for The Game Awards represents total reach across platforms, which differs from the average audience for every minute of the Super Bowl and the average audience for the entire event for the World Series. It is a meaningless comparison, and I should have scrutinized it more closely before publishing.
The ‘apples to oranges’ comparison, while significant, does not materially impact the core analysis that The Game Awards offers an innovative platform strategy or its successful transformation of industry events into multi-sided markets connecting publishers, digital storefronts, and audiences. The fundamental thesis about business model innovation—particularly its ability to monetize attention through premium marketing inventory while maintaining platform independence—remains sound.
As such, I’ve removed the comparison from the original analysis and updated the visual. I want to thank the readers who contacted me and apologize for any confusion.
I’m happy we have The Game Awards, even if it’s not perfectly or 100% fairly executed. Beyond just the viewership, it gives the global industry another reason to come together in person and is immensely valuable for that reason alone. E3 was the same deal - it wasn’t executed perfectly, but it served a great purpose and was worth having.
Just FYI I think the Super Bowl comparison isn't correct. The 123.4 million figure is "average viewers." The total figure, which is more comparable to what's being shared by Keighley, is "more than 200 million viewers (202.4) watched all-or-part of Super Bowl LVIII across all networks." The Game Awards do not have a bigger viewership than the Super Bowl. Have not checked the other broadcasts.
Source: https://operations.nfl.com/updates/the-game/super-bowl-lviii-is-most-watched-telecast-in-history/
Shocked by those viewer numbers
The only source is a VGA press release that doesn't add up: 2M on YouTube and 1M on Twitch. Where is the rest? Joost ran too quickly with this one, and now that it has spread and become popular, he likely won't correct it.