This is a guest contribution by Nick Pateman, co-founder of SickOdds.com. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you. 

Data in esports is programmatic by nature. That is, the data is available directly from the game itself. As a result, data is more affordable and more available than most affiliates think, particularly those familiar with traditional sports data and the costs and contracts that ride alongside.

Take the popular last man standing esport, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), for example. The game’s developers, Bluehole, launched an official free-to-use public API in mid-2018 which grants access to microscopic details about a match or player’s stats. This data can be drilled down into the finest of detail, going as far as revealing the distance a bullet has travelled before it met its target or the total seconds a player has survived a game. This data is all available in real-time, for free, to anyone with the programming know-how to capitalize.

PUBG’s API is just one example among many, including several community-led API initiatives. Esports affiliates have a unique opportunity to use this data in myriad ways, enhancing the user experience and value of their platform well beyond their rivals.