The State of eSports Opportunities: Q4 2023

eSports is a dynamic and fast-evolving field that combines the excitement of competitive gaming with the complexity of professional sports, complete with its ecosystem of players, teams, leagues, sponsors, and a dedicated fan base. While not yet as popular as major conventional sports, its rapidly gaining ground. Top-tier competitions, such as League of Legends draw 76 million viewers and various tournaments have surpassed the 100 million hours watched mark, indicating growing interest and engagement.

What began as small-scale video gaming contests has since grown into a multibillion-dollar business:

• In 2019, the eSports global market was valued at $957.5 million. This figure has grown to $1.64 billion today. (Magic League UK)
• eSports sponsorship generates over $600 million in market revenue. (Newzoo)
• Media rights are responsible for $192.6 million worth of eSports revenue. (Play Today)
• There are 532.1 million eSports audiences worldwide as of 2023. (Play Today)
• Asia and North America are currently the biggest eSports markets, but the US generates a revenue of $243 million. (Statista)
• Around 80% of sponsorships to the e-sports industry are from the gaming hardware and peripherals industry. Other popular sponsors are energy drink companies and furniture manufacturers. (DemandSage)
• eSports market revenue worldwide in 2023 by segment: (DemandSage)
  

  Segment	Revenue
  Sponsorships	$873.3m
  Media rights	$207.8m
  Publisher fees	$130.7m
  Streaming	$46.3m
  Digital	$53.9m
  Merchandise and tickets	$107.9m

For marketers, this means a new channel to target in their marketing mix. The audience is younger than for major sports leagues, tech savvy, and relatively wealthy. These characteristics make esports a promising marketing channel for many brands. However, they also have a larger audience to target inside the esports business. As a result, esports marketing will assist companies in expanding their audience and delivering marketing messages through engaging platforms.

According to BCG in their report, “Let the Game Begin: How Esports Is Shaping the Future of Live Entertainment:”

Demand continues to drive esports market growth. There are now 300 tournaments with prize pools exceeding $100,000. Approximately 30,000 professional esports athletes competed in 2022, compared to 14,000 in 2015. Moreover, the median tournament prize pool has significantly increased: from $270,000 to $600,000 between 2018 and 2021 for professional events. Brands have started leveraging esports as a key marketing channel to reach their target audience and build brand awareness and loyalty.

It continues to deliver a new generation of fascinating content and novel branding options, and mainstream media is taking notice. Check out what four top esports brands inside Winmo are currently on the hunt for. From agencies and branding to retail technology and website publishing, these companies are always on the hunt for partnership opportunities in a constantly growing industry:

1. Activision Blizzard

• Estimated Media Spend: $43,667,323
• Estimated Revenue: $7,530,000,000

Activision Blizzard lost its CMO Fernando Machado in March 2023 after serving two years as the brand’s top marketer. Its target demographic is male millennials and Gen-Zers and, once it finds a new CMO, the company will likely continue increasing ad spending, experiment with new ad channels, and review its agency roster. According to Winmo’s insights from Bombora, Activision Blizzard, Inc. has shown interest in agencies, APIs and services, branding, demand generation, e-commerce, education, entertainment, mobile, retail technology, sales, and website publishing.

2. Electronic Arts, Inc.

• Estimated Media Spend: $17,935,998
• Estimated Revenue: $5,629,000,000

Electronic Arts, Inc. is a worldwide leader in the development and publishing of interactive entertainment software for gaming systems, computers and mobile phones. The company is headquartered in Redwood City, CA and markets products under four brand names: EA, EA Sports, EA Sports Big and POGO. Electronic Arts has shown interest in agencies, APIs and services, branding, campaigns, CRM, demand generation, e-commerce, education, event management, marketing, mobile, retail technology, sales, search marketing, strategy and analysis, and website publishing.

3. Twitch Interactive, Inc.

• Estimated Media Spend: $1,021,702

Not long after appointing CMO Rachel Delphin, Twitch promoted Tony Paske as its marketing chief of staff. Paske joined the company in August 2020 and most recently served as its marketing strategy and operations director. The company will likely continue increasing national TV commercial spending and seek new agency partners. The target demographic includes millennials and Gen-X men.

Twitch has shown to be very interested in Education this week. Reach out now and determine if this is an opportunity for you. It has also shown interest in ad tech, agencies, branding, email marketing, entertainment, event management, sales, strategy and analysis.

4. Epic Games

Epic Games is a video game software company that is known for their popular games Fortnite, Gears of War, and Paragon. It also has a subsidiary, ChAIR Entertainment Group headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Epic Games, Inc. has shown to be extremely interested in search marketing this week. Reach out now and determine if this is an opportunity for you. It has also shown interest in agencies, analytics and reporting, branding, CRM, ecommerce, education, email marketing, event management, marketing, mobile, retail technology, strategy and analysis, and website publishing.

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