Thanks To;
Hazel Ramsell
PR & Outreach Executive
Evolved Digital Marketing Limited
Evolved Digital Marketing Limited
Esports v Sports – Is the Future of Sport Online
A recent downturn in the viewership of major sporting championships such as the NFL, Premier League and the Winter Olympics has shown that the popularity of traditional sports may be on the decline. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Limelight revealed that more young men now prefer to watch esports than traditional sports, with esports being their second most preferred media source, only behind movies.
Recognising this upturn in esports viewership and popularity, major brands have began to take notice, with tech and media companies alike starting to invest in this new and exciting industry. In 2015, Amazon announced that it had successfully acquired Twitch for $970m and has fervently promoted esports as the main stable of its platform ever since. Reports have highlighted that by 2020, esports will overtake the NBA’s 400m fans, reaching closer to 500m. Around 11bn hours will be spent by fans watching esports, with more than 70m enthusiasts watching major finals through online streaming platforms such as Twitch. That’s more than the MLB and NBA finals.
With this increased exposure and popularity comes increased revenue, as advertisers take advantage of this new platform. According to reports, it won’t be long until esports eclipses traditional sports when it comes to yearly revenue. It is believed that revenue generated from esports will hit £1.2bn by 2020, with viewing figures totalling around 600 million.
The growth of esports really began in the early 90’s, as many games began to benefit from increased internet connectivity and online play. Also, around this time, another sport was beginning to develop, the UFC. Both esports and UFC are two of the most exciting and fastest growing sports today, but do you earn more playing video games or getting punched in the face competitively? We took the 10 highest overall earning competitors from each sport, and created their average yearly earnings based on how long they had been in the sport and the prize money they have won. The figures show that gamers dominate the list when it comes to average yearly earnings, with the gamer Miracle, who is only second on the list behind Conor McGregor, earning just over $1m per year since he began his journey in esports. There are 8 professional gamers who have earned an average of over $600,000 per year since they began in the sport, with only 2 fighters in the UFC earning this same amount.
Not only is the overall revenue of esports already substantial when compared to other traditional sporting organisations such as the Major League Soccer and Cricket’s Indian Premier League, the same can be said for prize pools on offer to competitors. The recent Dota 2: The International 2017 event boasted an overall prize pool of $17.5m, making it the highest ever offered in the history of esports. Although this trend of increasingly lucrative prize money on offer to professional gamers is set to rise, due to brand investment into the sport and consumer interest, the figure of $17.5m already far outweighs the combined prize pool of other major sporting events, such as the Tour de France, Cricket World Cup and The Open.
2018 is set to be another exciting year for esports.
Esports v Sports
–
Is the Future of Sport Online
A recent downturn in the viewership of major sporting champ
ionships such as the NFL,
Premier League and the Winter Olympics has shown that t
he popularity of traditional sports
may be on the decline. In fact, a recent survey conducted
by Limelight revealed that more
young men now prefer to watch esports than traditional spor
ts, with esports being their
second most preferred media source, only behind movies.
Recognising this upturn in esports viewership and popularity, major
brands have began to
take notice, with tech and media companies alike starting
to invest in this new and exciting
industry. In 2015, Amazon announced that it had successfully acqui
red Twitch for $970m
and has fervently promoted esports as the main stable o
f its platform ever since. Reports have
highlighted that by 2020, esports will overtake the NBA
’
s 400m fans, reaching closer to
500m. Around 11bn hours will be spent by fans watching esports, with
more than 70m
enthusiasts watching major finals through online streaming pl
atforms such as Twitch. That
’
s
more than the MLB and NBA finals.
With this increased exposure and popularity comes increased r
evenue, as advertisers take
advantage of this new platform. According to reports, it wo
n
’
t be long until esports eclipses
traditional sports when it comes to yearly revenue. It is
believed that revenue generated from
esports will hit £1.2bn by 2020, with viewing figures totalling around 600 mil
lion.
The growth of esports really began in the early 90
’
s, as many games began to benefit from
increased internet connectivity and online play. Also, aroun
d this time, another sport was
beginning to develop, the UFC. Both esports and UFC are two of
the most exciting and
fastest growing sports today, but do you earn more playing video ga
mes or getting punched in
the face competitively? We took the 10 highest overall e
arning competitors from each sport,
and created their average yearly earnings based on how long
they had been in the sport and
the prize money they have won. The figures show that gamer
s dominate the list when it
comes to average yearly earnings, with the gamer Miracle,
who is only second on the list
behind Conor McGregor, earning just over $1m per year since he
began his journey in
esports. There are 8 professional gamers who have earn
ed an average of over $600,000 per
year since they began in the sport, with only 2 fighters
in the UFC earning this same amount.
Not only is the overall revenue of esports already substant
ial when compared to other
traditional sporting organisations such as the Major League
Soccer and Cricket
’
s Indian
Premier League, the same can be said for prize pools on of
fer to competitors. The recent Dota
2: The International 2017 event boasted an overall prize pool
of $17.5m, making it the
highest ever offered in the history of esports. Although t
his trend of increasingly lucrative
prize money on offer to professional gamers is set to rise
, due to brand investment into the
sport and consumer interest, the figure of $17.5m already f
ar outweighs the combined prize
pool of other major sporting events, such as the Tour de Fra
nce, Cricket World Cup and The
Open.
2018 is set to be another exciting year for esports.
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