The eSports Boom
We have talked about eSports before, but it is never enough to document the promising growth of eSports as a novice and attractive industry.
When it came into existence in the early 1970s, few could have predicted that eSports would turn into such a big deal with pool prizes ranging from $1,000,000.00 to $34,330,069.00.
Nowadays, many schoolchildren put in “videogamer” as an option for their future career, and trust me, they know the deal. A few eSports streamers reel in about $5,000 per month, but those are top-tier. With all of those sources of income combined, the average pro player takes in around $74,000 a year.
Moreover, according to Newzoo's report about eSports and the live streaming market, the eSports industry is expected to reach the $1.084 billion mark in 2021, which translates to a more than 14 percent growth for the eSports industry, which generated $947.1 million in revenue last year.
As the audience of eSports grows as well, Newzoo anticipates that the eSports industry will make $833.6 million -- more than 75 percent -- from their media rights and sponsorships due to an increase in the eSports live streaming audience.
Behind the Twitch and Douyu Streams
Much like conventional sports, eSports popularity growth is driven by viewership. Live Streaming plays a significant role in the gaming and eSports ecosystems. And last year, the pandemic disrupted the eSports and live-streaming markets alike, resulting in spiking viewership across all platforms.
eSports are generally live-streamed via platforms like Twitch, Youtube, Douyu, and Huya. These platforms also flourished as social hubs for many consumers, resulting in 11.7% growth caused by the increased time spent at home and social distancing requirements during the pandemic.
While the eSports market faced more challenges, it also managed significant growth, with markets and regions that previously had little-to-no eSports activity suddenly entering the scene and flourishing.
For instance, the gaming live streaming audiences for 2019 and 2020 were 593.2 million and 662.7 million, respectively. What started in 2020 has a huge role in the future as the global eSports audience is anticipated to reach 920.3 million by 2024.
eSports: Amateur VS Professional
Live streaming is divided into two main parts: non-organized competitive gaming and professional or semi-professional competitive gaming.
The latter is what the eSports market is all about. However, live streaming around non-organized competitive gaming is an exciting industry full of its very own developments and famous figures. Gamers live broadcast themselves playing online, and they gain some kind of celebrity status in the industry.
Even though the two industries differ by audience overlap, content, and monetization strategies, the lines are beginning to blur. For example, popular streamers are competing in pro-level eSports more often, and some tournaments allow their competitors to live-stream themselves competing.
Professional Esports Ecosystem
The eSports ecosystem is complex and varied. Thus we have visualized it to make it more comprehensive.
- Game publishers can own multiple games and be organizers of the games they operate themselves
- Influencers and pro-players can be independent of a team
- Revenue share includes a share of subscription, donation, and advertisement revenues
- Revenue share comprises a share of sponsorship and media rights revenue
- Revenue share contains a share of in-game digital goods