eSports is the live streaming of games, often featuring professional gamers. Games streaming includes the streaming of gameplay content to audiences in a casual environment. The global eSports and games streaming industry will be worth $US3.5 billion by 2025; rising from $US2.1 billion in 2021.
The figures are contained in a new report by Juniper Research. This represents a growth of 70 per cent over the next four years, making it one of the fastest growing sub-segments in the global gaming sector, now worth more than $US150 billion. The study, called eSports & Games Streaming: Emerging Opportunities & Market Forecasts 2021-2025, predicts that the market value will be driven by subscription spend to streaming platforms and advertising spend over streams. However, it urges stakeholders to invest in other revenue-generating areas, including broadcasting rights and live event ticket sales, and establish high-value sponsorship deals to maximize the market value of eSports in the future.
“The research anticipates that there will be over a billion eSports and games viewers by 2025; growing from 800 million viewers by the end of 2021. This represents 1 in 9 of the global population. Whilst it forecasts that the Asia Pacific region will represent over 50 per cent of these viewers by 2025, it identifies Latin America as a key region set for growth over the next four years.”
The study continued: “By 2025, the research predicts that there will be over 130 million eSports and games streaming viewers in the region. In turn, report co-author Saidat Giwa-Osagie remarked, “Successful streaming platforms will be those that can cater for the differences in geographical regions, by including locally popular streamers and games titles into eSports events. Rising viewership will create greater levels of competition between content streaming platforms, including Twitch and YouTube. In turn, these streaming platform providers must promote their content to new audiences. Aligning eSports events with other industries, such as entertainment industries, will provide these streaming platforms with opportunities to attract new users.”