Nicolas Cerrato on esports & its development

esports are still very young and require way more innovation and creativity than regular sports: the promise of esports is that of the wedding of professional sports and Hollywood. Many groundbreaking things have yet to be imagined, invented and brought to life.

Nicolas Cerrato

Formerly a small niche, esports has become a successful branch of the sports industry thoughout the last years. With professional clubs incorporating gaming teams and live streams watched by millions, it offers great market potential which is still increasing every year.

However, it’s people like Nicolas Cerrato who are helping to evolve the esports industry by using its potential for entrepreneurship. Being a former gamer with the necessary experience to understand the field, he found Gamoloco, an insight portal on gaming streams early on. Since 2014, they have been providing viewership data from established streaming platforms and making it readable due to developing their own metrics.

Furthermore, Nicolas is a well-known guest in the esports section of Quora. His insights or his advice on how to become a professional gamer are pure gold, thanks to his own experience which he shares openly.

Bringing all his answers together in one post, we asked Nicolas in this interview about Gamoloco, the future of esports in the sports business and his personal advice on how to achieve a career in esports. So, please, everyone:

---

Meet Nicolas Cerrato

---

You’ve been a professional gamer in the past, but decided to add more to the esports business with your info portal Gamoloco. When and how did you come up with the idea to found Gamoloco? And what was your motivation?
I got the initial idea in 2012: I was the head of sales & partnerships at a start up producing of esports contents back then, working closely with Twitch on a daily basis. I realized that Twitch viewerships were carrying a lot of information and meaning, of the kind any professional in the space would want to access and decipher. My motivation has been to help market actors make the best calls when it comes to strategy and investments. As a seasoned veteran, I’ve been witnessing many clueless moves in the space, sometimes leading to spectacular wastes of time, money and energy. Gamoloco aims at speeding up the learning process and contributing to making the best calls.

What is Gamoloco? What is its role in esports?
The business of esports can be seen as a competition for attention and viewerships: What game is the most watched? What event is the most watched? How do they compare to each other? How do they compare to regular sports? Has there been growth lately? If yes, where?… That’s the kind of questions Gamoloco helps answering.

How does a day of Nicolas Cerrato at Gamoloco look like?
I wake up without an alarm, somewhere between 6 and 8. Then I usually go have coffee outside and start my day checking www.gamoloco.com: to see if everything is working, and to get my daily dose of viewership data. Viewerships are one of my main informational sources regarding esports and gaming: they tell me what gamers were interested in yesterday, last week, last month. After that I usually do some Qi Gong in a park close to where I work and then it’s back to work. Usually i do coding, the hardest for me in terms of required brain power, in the morning and more business-oriented work (data research, promo, sales, hr, networking) in the afternoon.

Being an expert in esports, it’s obvious that you have a lot of experience in the field. How did your esports career evolve? What have you been doing before you started at Gamoloco?
I experienced many different things as an esports professional: gaming center owner, tournament organizer, pro team manager and coach, journalist all the way to „Le Monde“, shoutcaster on some of the biggest stages, TV show producer, community manager, business developper, creative director, consultant. I would describe my journey in esports as passionate and chaotic, just like my life. Things have started to settle a bit lately and I can only be happy and proud of the variety of experiences I’ve been through. I definitely understand esports from many angles.

esports was a big topic at the last ISPO Munich and its counterpart the ISPO Digitze. It’s a quickly growing branch of the sports industry with a lot of potential for sports companies. How do you think esports will effect the sports industry?
I think they will merge. There are many hints showing that, not the least of which being the big interest of pro athletes and established sports organizations in esports: if a bunch of people still can’t get the potential in esports, sports entertainment professionals for sure naturally do. Within 15 to 30 years from now, we’ll have high quality augmented reality games that require to be both an outstanding athlete and gamer to perform. At this point, the door will be open for esports to reach their maximum potential as they will become one with sports.

---

Within 15 to 30 years from now, we’ll have high quality augmented reality games that require to be both an outstanding athlete and gamer to perform. At this point, the door will be open for esports to reach their maximum potential as they will become one with sports.

Nicolas Cerrato

---

Imagine sitting in a room with esports enthusiasts who would love to make their passion a profession. Which advice would you give them on how to achieve career in esports? How do you possibly enter the esports business?
JUST DO IT. If you’re passionate, if this is what feeds you energy, just do it. Bring your light to the mix, get involved in a team, community site or tournament organization or whatever suits you in the space. I don’t believe in degrees that much. Learn by doing and remember: esports are still very young and require way more innovation and creativity than regular sports: the promise of esports is that of the wedding of professional sports and Hollywood. Many groundbreaking things have yet to be imagined, invented and brought to life.

---