This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here.

What is eSports? History & Rise of Video Game Tournaments

Years ago, eSports was a community of video gamers who would gather at conventions to play Counter Strike, Call of Duty, or League of Legends.

These multiplayer video game competitions would determine League of Legends champions, the greatest shooters in Call of Duty, the cream of the crop of Street Fighter players, the elite Dota 2 competitors, and more.

But today, as the history of eSports continue to unfold, media giants such as ESPN and Turner are broadcasting eSports tournaments and competitions. And in 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch, the live streaming video platform that has been and continues to be the leader in online gaming broadcasts. And YouTube also wanted to jump on the live streaming gaming community with the creation of YouTube Gaming.

eSports Market Growth Booming

To put in perspective how big eSports is becoming, a Google search for "lol" does not produce "laughing out loud" as the top result. Instead, it points to League of Legends, one of the most popular competitive games in existence. The game has spawned a worldwide community called the League of Legends Championship Series, more commonly known as LCS or LOL eSports.

What started as friends gathering in each other's homes to host LAN parties and play into the night has become an official network of pro gaming tournaments and leagues with legitimate teams, some of which are even sponsored and have international reach. Organizations such as Denial, AHQ, and MLG have multiple eSports leagues.

And to really understand the scope of all this, consider that the prize pool for the latest Dota 2 tournament was more than $20 million.

Websites even exist for eSports live scores to let people track the competitions in real time if they are unable to watch. There are even fantasy eSports leagues similar to fantasy football, along with the large and growing scene of eSports betting and gambling.

So it's understandable why traditional media companies would want to capitalize on this growing trend just before it floods into the mainstream. Approximately 300 million people worldwide tune in to eSports today, and that number is growing rapidly. By 2020, that number will be closer to 500 million.

eSports Industry Analysis - The Future of the Competitive Gaming Market

Financial institutions are starting to take notice. Goldman Sachs valued eSports at $500 million in 2016 and expects the market will grow at 22% annually compounded over the next three years into a more than $1 billion opportunity.

And industry statistics are already backing this valuation and demonstrating the potential for massive earnings. To illustrate the market value, market growth, and potential earnings for eSports, consider Swedish media company Modern Times Group's $87 million acquisition of Turtle Entertainment, the holding company for ESL. YouTube has made its biggest eSports investment to date by signing a multiyear broadcasting deal with Faceit to stream the latter's Esports Championship Series. And the NBA will launch its own eSports league in 2018.

Of course, as with any growing phenomenon, the question becomes: How do advertisers capitalize? This is especially tricky for eSports because of its audience demographics, which is young, passionate, male-dominated, and digital-first. They live online and on social media, are avid ad-blockers, and don't watch traditional TV or respond to conventional advertising.

So what will the future of eSports look like? How high can it climb? Could it reach the mainstream popularity of baseball or football? How will advertisers be able to reach an audience that does its best to shield itself from advertising?

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled an unparalleled report on the eSports ecosystem that dissects the growing market for competitive gaming. This comprehensive, industry-defining report contains more than 30 charts and figures that forecast audience growth, average revenue per user, and revenue growth.

Companies and organizations mentioned in the report include: NFL, NBA, English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, NHL, Paris Saint-Germain, Ligue 1, Ligue de Football, Twitch, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, ESPN, Electronic Arts, EA Sports, Valve, Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, ESL, Turtle Entertainment, Dreamhack, Modern Times Group, Turner Broadcasting, TBS Network, Vivendi, Canal Plus, Dailymotion, Disney, BAMTech, Intel, Coca Cola, Red Bull, HTC, Mikonet

Here are some eSports industry facts and statistics from the report:

• eSports is a still nascent industry filled with commercial opportunity.
• There are a variety of revenue streams that companies can tap into.
• The market is presently undervalued and has significant room to grow.
• The dynamism of this market distinguishes it from traditional sports.
• The audience is high-value and global, and its numbers are rising.
• Brands can prosper in eSports by following the appropriate game plan.
• Game publishers approach their Esport ecosystems in different ways.  
• Successful esport games are comprised of the same basic ingredients.
• Digital streaming platforms are spearheading the popularity of eSports.
• Legacy media are investing into eSports, and seeing encouraging results.
• Traditional sports franchises have a clear opportunity to seize in eSports.
• Virtual and augmented reality firms also stand to benefit from eSports.  

In full, the report illuminates the business of eSports from four angles:

• The gaming nucleus of eSports, including an overview of popular esport genres and games; the influence of game publishers, and the spectrum of strategies they adopt toward their respective esport scenes; the role of eSports event producers and the tournaments they operate.
• The eSports audience profile, its size, global reach, and demographic, psychographic, and behavioral attributes; the underlying factors driving its growth; why they are an attractive target for brands and broadcasters; and the significant audience and commercial crossover with traditional sports.
• eSports media broadcasters, including digital avant-garde like Twitch and YouTube, newer digital entrants like Facebook and traditional media outlets like Turner’s TBS Network, ESPN, and Canal Plus; their strategies and successes in this space; and the virtual reality opportunity.
• eSports market economics, with a market sizing, growth forecasts, and regional analyses; an evaluation of the eSports spectacle and its revenue generators, some of which are idiosyncratic to this industry; strategic planning for brand marketers, with case studies; and an exploration of the infinite dynamism and immense potential of the eSports economy.

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Esports, which is short for electronic sports, refers to competitive video gaming watched by spectators. Esports are not as mainstream as traditional sports in the US, but the number of esports fans globally is still sizable. The worldwide esports audience reached 335 million in 2017, according to Newzoo. 

And there’s still significant room for growth beyond that — we predict that 600 million consumers globally will watch esports in 2023, up 79% from 2017. 

A growing number of brands are acting to capitalize on the growth of esports as the majority of professional gaming fans are millennials and open to brand sponsors. Sixty-two percent of US esports viewers are aged 18-34, according to Activate, while 58% have a positive attitude towards brand involvement in esports, per Nielsen.

Meanwhile, Newzoo anticipates global esports sponsorship revenue to reach $359 million in 2018, up 53% year-over-year. The growing esports audience and brand activity helps explains why high-profile public figures are jumping in to capitalize on the action: In late October, basketball legend Michael Jordan and platinum-selling artist Drake both made investments into separate esports ventures, for example. 

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence will explain the growth of the esports audience and why it presents an attractive advertising opportunity for brands. We'll begin by exploring the key drivers and barriers affecting esports audience growth. Finally, we'll detail the benefits of advertising to esports fans and outline the best practices for implementing a successful esports ad campaign.

The companies mentioned in this report are: Alibaba, Arby's, Audi, Bud Light, Hyundai, Intel, Mastercard, McDonald's, Red Bull, Skillz, and Turner.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• The number of esports fans globally is anticipated to climb 59% over the next five years, but there’s still significant room for growth.
• This expansion will be driven by many factors, including investment from traditional sports leagues, a higher number of broadcast deals, and the expansion of the mobile-based esports scene.
• The majority of esports fans are millennials, while data suggests that Gen Zers are more receptive to nontraditional sports, like esports, than traditional sports.
• Brands can sponsor esports leagues, competitions, and players as well as advertise on digital platforms like Twitch to reach the eyeballs of esports fans.
• Whatever shape a brand's esports ad campaign eventually takes, displaying an authentic commitment to the gaming world is paramount.

 In full, the report:

• Outlines the drivers and potential barriers to esports audience growth.
• Details the various reasons esports fans are a compelling advertising opportunity for brands.
• Discusses the different ways brands can invest spend to reach the eyeballs of esports fans.
• Explains best practices brands advertising to esports fans should adopt in order to make inroads with the gaming community. 

SEE ALSO: The eSports competitive video gaming market continues to grow revenues & attract investors

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Virtual reality (VR) offers immersive experiences in which users can hear, see, and interact with 360-degree digital environments using head-mounted displays (HMDs) and handheld motion devices. The technology has been historically associated with consumer-facing gaming, but it’s been gaining traction in the enterprise over the past year.

In fact, companies such as Macy’s, Lowe’s, Walmart, and UPS, among others, have all launched new VR programs since 2017. And as more businesses look to tap the technology, this will drive enterprise VR hardware and software revenue to jump 587% to $5.5 billion in 2023, up from an estimated $800 million in 2018, according to Business Insider Intelligence estimates.

This shows that retailers and brands should look into implementing VR as early as possible to better compete with other industry players who’ve started to use the tech, especially in three key areas: sales, employee training, and product development. All of the companies mentioned above are using VR to in at least one of these areas, enabling them to increase product sales, reduce product design costs, or speed up employee training processes, for instance.

In the VR In The Enterprise report, Business Insider Intelligence explores how VR can provide value to retailers and brands in three areas: sales, employee training, and product development.

The report begins by discussing potential pain points the technology addresses for each use case, examining in-depth case studies to illustrate how companies have implemented the technology, and outlining the broader takeaways each use case presents for brands and retailers.

Finally, it looks at some of the potential barriers to further enterprise adoption and how both companies and VR incumbents are actively addressing those obstacles.

The companies mentioned in the report are: Audi, Lowe's, Macy's, McLaren Automotive, Walmart, and UPS, among others.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• VR enables consumers in brick-and-mortar stores to make more informed purchases, which could increase sales conversion rates.
• Brands and retailers looking to ramp up their employees quicker should consider bringing VR into their training processes.
• The tech can shorten brands' and retailers' product development life cycles by cutting down on the time associated with building expensive physical prototypes.

In full, the report:

• Identifies key VR vendors and device form factors for businesses to consider.
• Discusses key benefits the tech brings businesses for their sales, training, and product development processes.
• Illustrates those key benefits by discussing real-world case studies from companies and the takeaways from those implementations.

SEE ALSO: When it comes to VR hardware, consumers are balancing price point and experience

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• An American who may have been exposed to Ebola while working in the Democratic Republic of Congo has returned to the United States for monitoring.
• The person will be monitored for up to two weeks at the Nebraska Medical Center, which has handled Ebola patients before.
• An infectious diseases specialist at the medical center said the person is not currently ill and is not contagious.
• Congo has been battling an Ebola outbreak for months, with hundreds of deaths as of December.

An American medical worker who may have been exposed to Ebola while working in the Democratic Republic of Congo was flown back to the United States on Saturday and brought immediately to the Nebraska Medical Center for monitoring.

The person, whose identity wasn't revealed because they requested privacy, will be monitored for up to two weeks in a "secure area" the public can't access, the Nebraska Medical Center said in a press release.

The person was privately transported to the medical center Saturday afternoon, Politico reported.

"This person may have been exposed to the virus but is not ill and is not contagious," Ted Cieslak, an infectious diseases specialist with Nebraska Medicine and an associate professor of epidemiology in the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health, said in a statement. "Should any symptoms develop, the Nebraska Medicine/UNMC team is among the most qualified in the world to deal with them."

Read more: The latest reports from Congo show patients not usually known to contract Ebola are infected: newborn babies

The medical center said it would provide updates on the person's condition only if it becomes necessary to transfer the person to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit.

The medical center treated several Ebola patients in 2014, and monitored several other exposed people in 2015, though none contracted the disease.

Congo has been battling an Ebola outbreak since August, culminating in 543 cases confirmed and 357 deaths as of late December, according to the World Health Organization.

• Read more:
• Diseases like Ebola and avian flu are some of the biggest threats to global security — and lack of funding puts the US at risk
• Bill Gates says a pandemic flu could kill 30 million people — these are the deadly diseases that scare experts the most
• 9 dangerous diseases that could be prevented by vaccines within the next decade, from HIV to cancer
• Disease experts reveal their biggest worries about the next pandemic

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NOW WATCH: NASA sent an $850 million hammer to Mars and it could uncover clues to an outstanding mystery in our solar system

• Digital trust is the confidence people have in a platform to protect their information and provide a safe environment for them to create and engage with content.
• Business Insider Intelligence surveyed over 1,300 global consumers to evaluate their perception of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
• Consumers’ Digital Trust rankings differ across security, legitimacy, community, user experience, shareability, and relevance for the six major social networks.

If you feel like “fake news” and spammy social media feeds dominate your Internet experience, you’re not alone. Digital trust, the confidence people have in platforms to protect their information and provide a safe environment to create and engage with content, is in jeopardy.

In fact, in a new Business Insider Intelligence survey of more than 1,300 global consumers, over half (54%) said that fake news and scams were "extremely impactful” or “very impactful” on their decision to engage with ads and sponsored content.

For businesses, this distrust has financial ramifications. It’s no longer enough to craft a strong message; brands, marketers, and social platforms need to focus their energy on getting it to consumers in an environment where they are most receptive. When brands reach consumers on platforms that they trust, they enhance their credibility and increase the likelihood of receiving positive audience engagement.

The Digital Trust Report 2018, the latest Enterprise Edge Report from Business Insider Intelligence, compiles this exclusive survey data to analyze consumer perceptions of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

The survey breaks down consumers’ perceptions of social media across six pillars of trust: security, legitimacy, community, user experience, shareability, and relevance. The results? LinkedIn ran away with it.

As the most trusted platform for the second year in a row – and an outlier in the overall survey results – LinkedIn took the top spot for nearly every pillar of trust — and there are a few reasons why:

• LinkedIn continues to benefit from the professional nature of its community — users on the platform tend to be well behaved and have less personal information at risk, which makes for a more trusting environment.
• LinkedIn users are likely more selective and mindful about engagement when interacting within their professional network, which may increase trust in its content.
• Content on LinkedIn is typically published by career-minded individuals and organizations seeking to promote professional interests, and is therefore seen as higher quality than other platforms’. This bodes well for advertisers and publishers to be viewed as forthright, honest, persuasive, and trustworthy.

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The Digital Trust Report 2018 illustrates how social platforms have been on a roller coaster ride of data, user privacy, and brand safety scandals since our first installment of the report in 2017.

In full, the report analyzes key changes in rankings from 2017, identifies trends in millennials' behavior on social media, and highlights where these platforms (as well as advertisers) have opportunities to capture their attention.

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The smartphone is an essential part of our everyday lives.

But as with all technology, things change. So the question becomes: What will be the next smartphone?

Will it be the connected car? Or the smart speaker? What about the smartwatch?

Find out which device, if any, will take over the smartphone's role with this brand new slide deck from Business Insider Intelligence called The Next Smartphone.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Smartphones are the fastest adopted tech in the U.S.
• Whichever device becomes the next smartphone needs to go everywhere
• Consumer expectations around the smartphone are changing
• And much more

To get your copy of this FREE slide deck, simply click here.

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• A computer virus hit a newspaper printing plant in Los Angeles, halting deliveries of the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, and others.
• The Times reported that the virus was caused by a cyberattack from a "foreign entity."
• A Times spokeswoman said the paper has been working to fix the issues but added that Sunday deliveries may be affected as well.

A computer virus hit newspaper printing plant in Los Angeles, preventing it from printing and delivering Saturday editions of the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune and other papers to some subscribers.

The Los Angeles Times, which runs the facility, says the computer virus infected systems that are associated with the printing process.

The Times, citing one source with knowledge of the situation, reported that the issues stemmed from a cyberattack that apparently came from a "foreign entity."

"We believe the intention of the attack was to disable infrastructure, more specifically servers, as opposed to looking to steal information," the source was quoted as saying.

Spokeswoman Hillary Manning says the paper has been working to fix the issues but added that Sunday deliveries may be affected as well.

A note posted to The Times' website apologized to its subscribers.

"We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience as we actively work to resolve these issues and restore timely service to our customers," it said.

Biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong bought both the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune earlier this year for $500 million.

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NOW WATCH: Why Harvard scientists think this interstellar object might be an alien spacecraft

• The Alabama Crimson Tide are the best team in college football, thanks in no small part to head coach Nick Saban's attention to detail.
• In a recent SEC Network segment, Saban broke down an interception Alabama had against Ole Miss, still finding flaws in his defense's play despite the successful outcome.
• It's moments like this that make it obvious why Saban is one of the best coaches in football.

The Crimson Tide have won an astounding five national championships since 2009, and it's possible that the 2018 team is the best that the school has ever produced.

But even with their run of dominance, head coach Nick Saban can still find flaws in his team.

In a recent edition of the SEC Network's "Film Room," Saban sat down with David Greene to break down a few plays from Alabama's win over Ole Miss earlier in the year.

While talking about one play, Saban compliments his safeties on how they hid their coverage — a move that led to an interception and a huge return that set up an Alabama touchdown. But despite the takeaway, Saban still saw room for improvement.

Deionte Thompson, who picked off the pass, had taken the wrong route while returning the interception. While he managed to get the ball all the way to the Ole Miss 15-yard line, Saban suggested he could have scored if he had returned the ball the way they had practiced.

You can hear Saban's disappointment in the video below.

You might think that an interception would be enough for a defensive player — the goal of the defense is to stop opposing offenses from scoring — but for Saban, there's always room to be better.

Saban's attention to detail is one of the reasons he's considered the best coach in college football, and a big part of why the Crimson Tide is in the national title picture every year.

His keen eye for mistakes is famous even among his players — when quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was told after a game that Saban had said he exceeded expectations, he responded with disbelief.

"He has to be joking with you guys because that's definitely not what Coach Saban tells us," Tagovailoa said. "There's always room for improvement. Not only with Coach Saban but within our whole coaching staff and within ourselves, too. There's always room for improvement.”

The Alabama Crimson Tide are currently 8-0, their closest game being a 45-23 victory over Texas A&M. They look well on their way to another national title but don't expect Saban to be taking it easy any time soon.

SEE ALSO: The first College Football Playoff ranking has winners, losers, question marks, and one clear path to chaos

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NOW WATCH: Bernie Madoff was arrested 10 years ago today — here's what his life is like in prison

• Catarina Alonzo, the mother of 8-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo, said her son wasn't ill on his journey to the United States.
• Felipe is the second child to die this month in Border Patrol custody.
• His mother's comments contradicted President Donald Trump's tweets on Saturday, which said the two children were already sick by the time they entered Border Patrol custody.
• The New Mexico medical examiner's office, which conducted an autopsy, said that Felipe tested positive for the flu.

The mother of a boy who died while in US custody says her son was healthy when he left Guatemala with his father on their journey hoping to migrate to the United States.

The mother of 8-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo, Catarina Alonzo, spoke Saturday with Associated Press journalists at the family's home in a remote Guatemalan village some 250 miles west of Guatemala City.

She said her son reported he was doing well every time that he and his father called home during their trek. She said the last time she spoke with Felipe he was in Mexico at the US border and said he was eating chicken.

US authorities say the boy was suffering from the flu when he died last Monday in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

He was the second child this month to die in US custody after crossing the border. The first was a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl, Jakelin Caal Maquin, who died in hospital roughly 24 hours after being arrested with her father and a large group of migrants in a remote area of the New Mexico desert.

Catarina Alonzo's comments contradicted remarks made earlier Saturday by President Donald Trump, who said the children had been sick before they were arrested by Border Patrol.

Read more: 'We've seen this coming': Why migrant children are dying in Border Patrol custody

Trump addressed the children's deaths for the first time Saturday afternoon in a series of tweets blaming Democratic lawmakers for US immigration laws.

"Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can't. If we had a Wall, they wouldn't even try!" he tweeted.

He continued: "The two … children in question were very sick before they were given over to Border Patrol."

The Customs and Border Protection agency has responded to the deaths by conducting secondary medical screenings on all children currently detained, and commissioning other federal agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and the US Coast Guard to assist.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen traveled to the US-Mexico border on Friday and Saturday to meet with Border Patrol officials, and be briefed on new procedures to conduct in-depth initial health exams.

• Read more of Business Insider's immigration coverage:
• 'We've seen this coming': Why migrant children are dying in Border Patrol custody
• Trump threatens to close the border over a new caravan forming in Honduras that reportedly isn't even headed for the US
• As the government shutdown over Trump's border wall rages, a journey along the entire 1,933-mile US-Mexico border shows the monumental task of securing it
• The 8-year-old migrant boy who died on Christmas Eve was held in US custody for nearly a week — against Border Patrol's own rules

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NOW WATCH: The true story behind the name 'Black Friday' is much darker than you may have thought

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The mobile augmented reality (AR) market is quickly becoming primed for the retail space. By blending the online and in-store shopping journeys, mobile AR promises to provide an immersive digital shopping experience unlike anything shoppers have seen before.

Mobile AR is one of the most coveted technologies for improving the digital shopping experience among consumers. That’s because mobile AR can be used to bring the in-store experience to consumers’ homes by recreating the try-on experience. It allows online shoppers to test out multiple sizes and variations of products, or just see what a product looks like overlaid into their home — without making a true commitment to the purchase or a trip to the store. It can also be used in-store to quickly provide product information or guide users to the right item using location-based services.

Retailers that meet this need for mobile AR stand to pull ahead of the competition. Mobile AR can help build brand loyalty, heighten engagement, increase geographical customer reach, shorten conversion times, boost purchases of larger items, and cut down on returns.

In a new report, Business Insider Intelligence examines the importance of mobile AR to businesses in the retail space, explores the various ways brands are utilizing mobile AR to enhance the customer experience as well as their own, and determines the factors retailers should consider when devising a mobile AR strategy.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• Nearly 75% of consumers already expect retailers to offer an AR experience. Mobile AR retail experiences are more likely to come to fruition as Apple and Google continue to build out their AR developer platforms, ARKit and ARCore, respectively, which will expand the addressable market exponentially.
• Retailers in certain segments, including furniture and home improvement, as well as beauty and fashion, have been the first to jump on the mobile AR bandwagon through their own apps. These sectors appear to have the most immediate need for mobile AR strategies, as trying out furniture and clothes are two of the most coveted AR use cases by consumers.
• Social media is emerging as a prominent channel for retailers to reach consumers through mobile AR experiences. Platforms like Facebook and Snapchat continue to build out tools that businesses and developers can utilize to enhance their advertising strategies with immersive experiences.
• But retailers will have to consider several factors before implementing their mobile AR strategies. These include the cost of building AR experiences, the availability of AR-compatible smartphones, consumer awareness of mobile AR apps, and the quality of mobile AR content.

In full, the report:

• Explores the ways mobile AR brings value to the customer shopping experience. 
• Highlights how the consumer benefits of mobile AR can be transformed into valuable outcomes for retailers.
• Discusses how major retail brands are leveraging mobile AR to enhance the customer journey, and what goals they are striving to achieve.
• Outlines the several factors retailers and brands will have to consider before implementing their mobile AR strategies.

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• An Oregon hotel announced Saturday it fired two employees who called the police on a black guest, after spotting him in the lobby and demanding to know his room number.
• Jermaine Massey said that even though he showed the guard his hotel key, the guard told him to leave and a manager called the police and accused Massey of loitering.
• The DoubleTree by Hilton hotel tweeted on Saturday it had "zero tolerance for racism," and apologized to Massey.

A hotel in Portland, Oregon, announced Saturday it fired two employees over mistreating a black guest, whom they asked to leave last week before calling the police.

Jermaine Massey, 34, said he was talking to his mother on his phone in lobby of the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel last Saturday when a security guard approached him to ask if he was a guest, and what his room number was.

Massey said that even though he showed the guard his hotel key, the guard told him to leave and a manager called the police and accused Massey of loitering.

In an Instagram post, Massey said he believed he was targeted by the hotel staff due to his race.

"It is never ok to discriminate against guests for the color of their skin and to prejudge them based on your own bias against that race," Massey wrote.

Read more: A hotel in Portland called the police on a black guest who was taking a phone call in the lobby

The hotel included an apology to Massey in its tweet on Saturday.

"DoubleTree by Hilton has zero tolerance for racism," the hotel tweeted, adding that it had "terminated 2 employees involved in the mistreatment of Mr. Massey and is working with Diversity & Inclusion experts. Hilton deeply apologizes to Mr. Massey."

Massey spoke out about the incident on CNN on Friday, saying he felt hurt and humiliated by the situation.

"I'm a person, at the end of the day, just like everyone else. And I deserve respect and fair treatment, and I did not receive that on Saturday," Massey said. "I think that there's a lot of perceptions about black males, in particular. That we're threats, and we're harmful, and we're just fearful individuals. And that bias impacts these situations and it's harmful to us as a people."

The police call at the DoubleTree is just the latest in a series of instances where white people have called the police on black people for seemingly innocuous behavior, prompting viral outrage and raising concerns of racial bias.

In October, a white woman in Brooklyn called the police on a black child she wrongly accused of sexual assault, later admitting she had been mistaken. In April, two young black men were forcibly removed from a Starbucks in Philadelphia by police as they sat in the café waiting for a business meeting.

In May, a graduate student at Yale University was questioned by police after a fellow student reported her for sleeping in the common area of their dormitory. In June, one black firefighter in uniform was reported to police as he conducted a city-mandated inspection on homes in a neighborhood in Oakland, California.

SEE ALSO: 'We've seen this coming': Why migrant children are dying in Border Patrol custody

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NOW WATCH: Anthony Scaramucci claims Trump isn't a nationalist: 'He likes saying that because it irks these intellectual elitists'

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Over the past five years, the world has seen a seemingly unending series of high-profile data breaches, defined as incidents in which unauthorized parties access and retrieve sensitive, secure, or private data.

Major incidents, like the 2013 Yahoo breach, which impacted all 3 million of the tech giant’s customers, and the more recent Equifax breach, which exposed the information of at least 143 million US adults, has kept this risk, and these threats, at the forefront for both businesses and consumers. And businesses have good reason to be concerned — of organizations breached, 22% lost customers, 29% lost revenue, and 23% lost business opportunities.

This threat isn’t going anywhere. Each of the past five years has seen, on average, 1,704 security incidents, impacting nearly 2 billion records. And hackers could be getting more efficient, using new technological tools to extract more data in fewer breach attempts. That’s making the security threat an industry-agnostic for any business holding sensitive data — at this point, virtually all companies — and therefore a necessity for firms to address proactively and prepare to react to.

The majority of breaches come from the outside, when a malicious actor is usually seeking access to records for financial gain, and tend to leverage malware or other software and hardware-related tools to access records. But they can come internally, as well as from accidents perpetrated by employees, like lost or stolen records or devices.

That means that firms need to have a broad-ranging plan in place, focusing on preventing breaches, detecting them quickly, and resolving and responding to them in the best possible way. That involves understanding protectable assets, ensuring compliance, and training employees, but also protecting data, investing in software to understand what normal and abnormal performance looks like, training employees, and building a response plan to mitigate as much damage as possible when the inevitable does occur.

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has put together a detailed report on the data breach threat, who and what companies need to protect themselves from, and how they can most effectively do so from a technological and organizational perspective.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• The breach threat isn’t going anywhere. The number of overall breaches isn’t consistent — it soared from 2013 to 2016, but ticked down slightly last year — but hackers might be becoming better at obtaining more records with less work, which magnifies risk.
• The majority of breaches come from the outside, and leverage software and hardware attacks, like malware, web app attacks, point-of-service (POS) intrusion, and card skimmers.
• Firms need to build a strong front door to prevent as many breaches as possible, but they also need to develop institutional knowledge to detect a breach quickly, and plan for how to resolve and respond to it in order to limit damage — both financial and subjective — as effectively as possible.

In full, the report:

• Explains the scope of the breach threat, by industry and year, and identifies the top attacks.
• Identifies leading perpetrators and causes of breaches.
• Addresses strategies to cope with the threat in three key areas: prevention, detection, and resolution and response.
• Issues recommendations from both a technological and organizational perspective in each of these categories so that companies can avoid the fallout that a data breach can bring.

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• Bill Gates released his annual "What I learned at work this year" letter, which reflects on the issues of the past year and predicts what may happen in the upcoming 12 months. 
• In his 2018 edition, the Microsoft founder shared what he believes will be the next epidemic: the flu. 
• "If anything is going to kill tens of millions of people in a short time, it will probably be a global epidemic. And the disease would most likely be a form of the flu," Gates wrote. 
• Gates added that developing a universal flu vaccine is crucial for keeping a global outbreak from happening. 

As 2018 comes to a close, Microsoft founder Bill Gates is reflecting on the year and thinking about what lies ahead in his annual "What I learned at work this year" letter. In addition to addressing energy and gene editing, this year's musings focused on the potential of a global flu epidemic — one that Gates, also the cofounder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, does not think we are ready to handle.

As Gates wrote in his letter, 2018 marked the 100 year anniversary of the Spanish flu pandemic, a global outbreak that infected 500 million people worldwide and killed roughly 50 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

"I had hoped that hitting the 100th anniversary of this epidemic would spark a lot of discussion about whether we're ready for the next global epidemic," he wrote. "Unfortunately, it didn't, and we still are not ready."

A global flu epidemic could kill more people in the short-term than terrorism or climate change

In his letter, Gates acknowledged that dangers like terrorism and climate change cause great worry among the general public. But he also noted that the flu should be high on their list of concerns as well. 

Read more: 80,000 people died from the flu last winter — the highest number in over 40 years

"If anything is going to kill tens of millions of people in a short time, it will probably be a global epidemic," he wrote. "And the disease would most likely be a form of the flu, because the flu virus spreads easily through the air. Today a flu as contagious and lethal as the 1918 one would kill nearly 33 million people in just six months."

Gates's concerns are warranted. An estimated 80,000 Americans died from the flu last winter, and 180 of those deaths occurred in children, according to the CDC. 

In order to prevent a pandemic from spreading, Gates wrote that "we need a plan for national governments to work together."

"We need to think through how to handle quarantines, make sure supply chains will reach affected areas, decide how to involve the military, and so on. There was not much progress on these questions in 2018," he wrote.

A universal flu vaccine could help protect people from the epidemic, but only if they receive it

Despite the lack of progress in developing a preparedness plan, Gates noted that there have been major steps towards creating a vaccine that protects against every strain of flu. It would only work for people who have never been exposed to the flu in any form. 

"All strains of the virus have certain structures in common," Gates explained. "If you've never been exposed to the flu, it's possible to make a vaccine that teaches your immune system to look for those structures and attack them. But once you've had the flu, your body obsesses over the strain that got you sick. That makes it really hard to get your immune system to look for the common structures."

Even if we were to develop a super vaccine, which Gates writes is possible as "new research money is coming in and more scientists are working on it," there is still the issues of people getting it. While flu shots are readily available, they are not mandatory, giving people opposed to vaccines an easy out. 

Read more:A third of US parents say they'll skip the flu shots for their kids this year — here's why that's not a good idea 

When people avoid vaccination, they increase their risk of developing and spreading the disease. If a person with a weakened, changing, or underdeveloped immune system catches the flu, it could become deadly. According to Healthline, the groups that are more vulnerable to the flu include children, adults over the age of 65, people who are pregnant, people with serious medical conditions, and people undergoing chemotherapy. 

The Gates family isn't only concerned about the deadly potential of the flu

In February 2017, Gates warned about the dangers of weaponized diseases that could kill more than 30 million people in a year. 

"Whether it occurs by a quirk of nature or at the hand of a terrorist, epidemiologists say a fast-moving airborne pathogen could kill more than 30 million people in less than a year," Gates wrote in an op-ed for Business Insider at the time. "And they say there is a reasonable probability the world will experience such an outbreak in the next 10-15 years."

In March of this year, Gates and his wife Melinda brought up their concerns of a potential bioterrorism attack during a panel at South by Southwest. As with a future global flu epidemic, the two believe we are "unprepared" to handle an attack and need to create safety standards and protocols. 

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

• Read more:
• What Bill Gates thinks about the current state of global health
• Here's why you might get the flu, even if you got the flu shot
• This year's flu vaccine will probably provide more protection than last year's — here's why

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NOW WATCH: The legendary economist who predicted the housing crisis says the US will win the trade war

• The college football national championship is officially set, with Alabama once again taking on the Clemson Tigers for the title.
• Alabama won their way into the game with a dominant win over Heisman winner Kyler Murray and the Oklahoma Sooners.
• Clemson also cruised to the title game, taking down Notre Dam 30-3.

For the third time in four years, Alabama and Clemson will play for the college football national championship.

Both teams punched their tickets to the title game on Saturday with decisive wins over their opening opponents in the College Football Playoff.

Clemson kicked off the action with a 30-3 win over Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl.

A slow start for both teams left the game tied 3-3 through the first quarter. But the Tigers offense came alive as the game went on, with freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence throwing for 327 yards and three touchdowns in an impressive showing. The Clemson defense never gave an inch, breaking through for six sacks and holding a Notre Dame team that averaged over 450 total yards through the regular season to just 248 yards of offense.

A few hours later, Alabama added yet another solid victory to their undefeated 2018 campaign, taking down Kyler Murray and the Oklahoma Sooners 45-34.

After receiving the opening kickoff, the Crimson Tide jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. The Sooners would eventually get on the board, but would never bring the game within a score.

Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who had injury concerns coming into the game, looked every bit the reigning champion that he was, completing 24 of 27 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Tide to victory.

Saturday's games set up a familiar meeting between Alabama and Clemson for the national title at Levi's Stadium in San Francisco. It's the fourth consecutive year that the Tigers and Crimson Tide will meet in the College Football Playoff, and the third time they'll play for the championship.

SEE ALSO: Nick Saban's reaction to a great defensive play shows his never-ending attention to detail and how he is never satisfied

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NOW WATCH: The legendary economist who predicted the housing crisis says the US will win the trade war

Digital disruption is affecting every aspect of the fintech industry.

Over the past five years, fintech has established itself as a fundamental part of the global financial services ecosystem.

Fintech startups have raised, and continue to raise, billions of dollars annually, pushing incumbent financial institutions to get in on the action. Legacy players have begun using fintech to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving financial services landscape.

So what's next?

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, explores recent innovations in the fintech space as well as what might be coming in the future in our brand new exclusive slide deck, The Future of Fintech: How Fintech Is Taking Over The World and What Comes Next.

To get your copy of this free slide deck, click here.

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This is a preview of a research report from Business insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here. 

Telehealth — the use of mobile technology to deliver health-related services, such as remote doctor consultations and patient monitoring — is enabling healthcare providers and payers to address the US healthcare industry’s growing list of problems.

The proliferation and rapid advancement of mobile technology are spurring telehealth adoption, and many believe that 2018 could be the tipping point for the telehealth market.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence defines the opaque US telehealth market, forecasts the market growth potential and value, outlines the key drivers behind usage and adoption, and evaluates the opportunity telehealth solutions will afford all stakeholders. We also identify key barriers to continued telehealth adoption, and discuss how providers, payers, and telehealth companies are working to overcome these hurdles.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Telehealth is enabling healthcare providers and payers to address the US healthcare industry’s growing list of problems, including rising healthcare costs, an aging population, and the transformation of healthcare from service-centric to consumer-centric, which is straining healthcare system resources and threatening to drive up payer costs.
• Although telehealth solutions aren't suitable for all patients, right now, about 45% of the US population, or 147 million consumers, falls within the addressable market.
• Despite low usage rates, most consumers are open to using telehealth solutions, according to the 2018 Business Insider Intelligence Insurance Technology Study. 
• A range of companies are well-positioned to generate savings in terms of revenue and avoid potential pitfalls by deploying telehealth solutions.

 In full, the report:

• Offers an overview of different types of telehealth services and their applications in the US healthcare ecosystem. 
• Highlights the growth drivers and opportunities of these applications.
• Includes exclusive data and insights from the 2018 Business Insider Intelligence Insurance Technology Study. 
• Provides examples of key players in the telehealth market, including insurers, medical device makers, and health networks. 
• Gives recommendations on how health networks and payers should approach using and deploying telehealth solutions.

Subscribe to an All-Access pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to:

	This report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports
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	And more!

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• After a shaky start, wearables like smartwatches and fitness trackers have gained traction in healthcare, with US consumer use jumping from 9% in 2014 to 33% in 2018.
• More than 80% of consumers are willing to wear tech that measures health data — and penetration should continue to climb.
• The maturation of the wearable market will put more wearables in the hands of consumers and US businesses.

The US healthcare industry as it exists today is not sustainable. An aging patient population and rising burden of chronic disease have caused healthcare costs to skyrocket and left providers struggling to keep up with demand for care. 

Meanwhile, digital technologies in nearly every consumer experience outside of healthcare have raised patients’ expectations for good service to be higher than ever.

One of the key mechanisms through which healthcare providers can finally evolve their outdated practices and exceed these expectations is wearable technology.

Presently, 33% of US consumers have adopted wearables, such as smartwatches and fitness trackers, to play a more active role in managing their health. In turn, insurers, providers, and employers are poised to become just as active leveraging these devices – and the data they capture – to abandon the traditional reimbursement model and improve patient outcomes with personalized, value-based care.

Adoption is going to keep climbing, as more than 80% of consumers are willing to wear tech that measures health data, according to Accenture — though they have reservations about who exactly should access it.

A new report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, follows the growing adoption of wearables and breadth of functions they offer to outline how healthcare organizations and stakeholders can overcome this challenge and add greater value with wearable technology.

For insurers, providers, and employers, wearables present three distinct opportunities:

• Insurers can use wearable data to enhance risk assessments and drive customer lifetime value. One study shows that wearables can incentivize healthier behavior associated with a 30% reduction in risk of cardiovascular events and death.
• Providers can use the remote patient monitoring capabilities of wearable technology to improve chronic disease management, lessen the burden of staff shortages, and navigate a changing reimbursement model. And since 90% of patients no longer feel obligated to stay with providers that don't deliver a satisfactory digital experience, wearables could help to attract and retain them.
• Employers can combine wearables with cash incentives to lower insurance costs and improve employee productivity. For example, The Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority yielded $5 million in healthcare cost savings through a wearable-based employee wellness program.

Want to Learn More?

The Wearables in US Healthcare Report details the current and future market landscape of wearables in the US healthcare sector. It explores the key drivers behind wearable usage by insurers, healthcare providers, and employers, and the opportunities wearables afford to each of these stakeholders. 

By outlining a successful case study from each stakeholder, the report highlights best practices in implementing wearables to reduce healthcare claims, improve patient outcomes, and drive insurance cost savings, as well as how the evolution of the market will create new, untapped opportunities for businesses.

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• It's been a wild year for tech, marked by scandal, political clashes, and bizarre product launches.
• From Mark Zuckerberg's Congress grilling to the mass Google protests, some of the drama has been captured in candid detail on camera.

Business Insider has compiled some of the wildest pictures from an apocalyptic year in tech. Scroll on for 15 moments that defined 2018. 

JANUARY: Yes, it really was this year Logan Paul posted *that* YouTube video of a Japanese forest and what appeared to be a dead body.

Paul was removed from Google's preferred partner program — which guarantees YouTube's biggest stars more ad revenue — and later said the mistake cost him $5 million.

MARCH: Pursued by reporters, Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix is bundled into the firm's London offices.

Just days before this photo was taken, The Observer reported that Nix's company had harvested the data of 50 million Facebook users and weaponized the information for political campaigns, including Donald Trump's run for president. He was unflatteringly compared to a James Bond villain.

MARCH: This self-driving Uber car killed Elaine Herzberg. It was the first pedestrian fatality involving an autonomous vehicle.

The incident shocked people inside Uber's Advanced Technologies Group, the company's 1,100-person self-driving unit, according to Business Insider's detailed retelling of the incident.

Writing for Business Insider, the UK's former national security adviser Sir Mark Lyall Grant says Brexit needn't damage national security — but leaving without a deal would be disastrous and must be avoided.

Despite some recent alarmist reporting, there is no reason why Brexit should damage UK national security. As National Security Adviser, I oversaw the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, which identified four major strategic threats to the UK: State-based threats, especially from Russia; terrorism and extremism; cyber threats and the erosion of the rules-based international order.

In the last three years, all four threats have intensified. But our membership of the EU is not a critical factor in our response to any of them. NATO, the five-eyes intelligence community, our permanent membership of the UN Security Council and bilateral arrangements with key partners, such as the Lancaster House treaty with France, are all more important. It is telling that, of the 89 separate commitments in the 2015 review, only one referenced the EU – a commitment to champion an EU India Free Trade agreement.

I do not want to suggest that there are no implications at all. The most important is the network of European information sharing and practical measures that help British law enforcement and intelligence agencies tackle serious organised crime, secure our borders and combat terrorism. We shall want to be as closely associated as possible with EUROPOL on issues such as cybersecurity; access the Schengen and Prum databases, which store DNA, fingerprint, vehicle and other personal information, to help keep track of criminals; get traveller information from the Passenger name records; and operate the European Arrest Warrant. All these systems are owned and run by the EU.

The UK clearly has a strong national security interest in reaching agreement on these issues, so that the current close cooperation can continue smoothly after Brexit. The Government has proposed a bespoke ‘security treaty’, essentially aimed at retaining current levels of cooperation, but minimising the role of the European Court of Justice.

The Commission negotiators have not yet responded in detail, as they continue to focus on the Irish border issue. But, even in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit (which would be disastrous economically) I am confident that a satisfactory arrangement will be found on security. This is because our EU partners have at least as great an interest in continuing to benefit from UK cooperation. UK intelligence services are recognised as the best in Europe, we have the largest defence and aid budgets of any EU country, our military engagement is highly prized and we arrest and send back to their own countries eight times as many EU nationals under the European Arrest Warrant as we get back from the continent. In this sense, we are in credit on National Security – which is not the case in many other areas of the Brexit negotiations. I know from my time as NSA that this reality is well understood by European leaders. President Macron may talk wistfully of creating a European army, but he knows that, without UK input, Europe will never be able to pull its weight on defence.

In fact, the greatest threat to national security from Brexit is the performance of the UK economy. As the 2015 review made clear, you cannot divorce national security from economic security. If the UK’s economy suffers as a result of Brexit, then our national security will inevitably also suffer. Put at its most basic, if the pound depreciates against the dollar, then our ability to fund the ambitious defence procurement programme will be put at risk, whether we continue to spend 2% of GDP on Defence or not. So security is yet another reason why protecting the UK’s economy must be the Government’s top priority in the negotiations.

Sir Mark Lyall Grant was the United Kingdom's national security adviser between 2015-17 and has also served as a permanent representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations.

SEE ALSO: 5 things you need to know about Theresa May's plans for immigration after Brexit

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• Brexit has only a "50-50" chance of happening if MPs vote against Theresa May's deal, according to senior politician Liam Fox.
• The best way to guarantee Britain exits the European Union on March 29, 2019 is for MPs to support the withdrawal agreement.
• But there are no guarantees the agreement will get the support it needs. This is because, prior to Christmas, there were reports more than 100 MPs opposed it. Leading Conservatives even advocate a second referendum.
• Reacting to Fox's "50-50" statement, the Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said it is "actually 56-44" as public opinion has changed since the referendum.
• Moran said the public wants to stop this "badly-led disaster."

The chances of Brexit happening on March 29 will be significantly reduced if MPs vote against Theresa May's deal next month.

That is according to the international trade secretary Liam Fox who told the Sunday Times that "if we do not vote" for the existing withdrawal agreement then chances of exiting the European Union would be around "50-50," down from a 100% certainty should May's Brexit deal pass.

"What you can be sure of is that if we vote for the prime minister’s deal then its 100% certain that we will leave on March 29," Fox said.

"If we do not vote for that, I’m not sure I would give it much more than 50-50. And for me that would induce a sense that we had betrayed the people that voted in the referendum."

There are no guarantees that British MPs will back the Brexit deal in its current format. Prior to Christmas, there were reports that more than 100 MPs opposed it. And a number of leading Conservative politicians even advocate a second referendum.

Failure to support the Brexit deal "would induce a sense that we had betrayed the people that had voted in the referendum," Fox said.

"As far as I’m concerned, as an elected member of parliament, I’ve been given an instruction by the British people and it’s my democratic duty to do it.

"We’ve been given a clear instruction. It’s time parliamentarians put their own pride behind them and started to act with the spirit of humility and delivering to the people what they were promised."

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, a leading supporter of the Best for Britain campaign for a referendum, said Fox's 50-50 calculations are slightly off. "Brexit not happening isn’t 50-50 as Liam Fox says,"she said, according to ITV.

"It’s actually 56-44. That’s the way the public now feels about us stopping this badly-led disaster and strengthening ourselves within the EU.

"The only thing that is shattering the bond of trust between electorate and Parliament is the refusal of ministers like Liam Fox to trust people with the final say on Brexit."

SEE ALSO: Exclusive: Liam Fox warns Theresa May that extending Brexit talks would be a 'complete betrayal'

DON'T MISS: Liam Fox is plotting to scrap EU food standards to win a Brexit trade deal with Trump

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