Over the past few years, eSports has gained a lot of ground on its competition… its events and viewers keeps increasing and is predicted to continue to grow for years to come. The emergence of esports is expected to transform the outlook of sports industry.
Major revenue streams for esports include media rights; tickets and merchandise; sponsorships; direct advertisements; and publisher fees. In revenue-generating streams, sponsorships and advertisements are the major sources of revenue generation that have witnessed burgeoning demand during the last five years. The market for online games is growing at a healthy pace owing to factors such as growing adoption of advanced gaming technologies, changing entertainment preferences among consumers, rising income levels, and growing demand for mobile gaming.
The increasing smartphone penetration and better internet connectivity have led to rise in the number of gamers at a rapid pace. A report from MarketsAndMarkets said that The overall eSports market is expected to grow from USD 694.2 million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD 2,174.8 million by 2023, at a CAGR of 18.61% between 2018 and 2023.
Another report, this time from Newzoo, looked at the 2021 figures, saying that A leading global provider of games and esports analytics projects its industry will amass more than $1 billion in revenue for 2021 with additional growth in media rights and the livestreaming market. According to Newzoo’s Global Esports and Live Streaming Market Report, 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.
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 livestreaming audience for esports. Newzoo predicts the global live-streaming audience will hit 728.8 million by the end of 2021, marking a 10 percent increase over the 662.6 million who watched in 2020.
The anticipated growth comes after the industry experienced an influx in viewership in streaming platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has certainly accelerated the growth of the live-streaming audience, but we expect stabilization once the pandemic subsides,” the report stated. Newzoo anticipates the live-streaming audience total will reach 920.3 million by 2024.