Esports has taken the world by storm. It’s one of the more unexpected consequences of the online world, and at the same time, one of the more accessible ones.
Esports has gone from being a niche corner of the internet to being an entire industry on its own. Once you find your first team to support you, it’s easy to become heavily invested. Huge prizes are available for teams competing in the biggest tournaments, and there are massive competitions on every continent.
The world of esports is set to continue growing, and as a result, there are tons of opportunities available for all kinds of businesses. We’re going to look at how the industry works and how you can get involved with it.
Esports refers to the world of competitive online gaming. Since the dawn of the internet era, online games have been around, but esports is defined by the degree of the organization behind these games.
From the late 2000s onwards, esports became a defined world that existed beyond the simple confines of online gaming. Various games came to prominence in esports, mostly first-person shooters, strategy games, and sports games.
Today, there are a huge number of different leagues, and players at the top of their game have elevated esports to a professional level. Esports has become a popular market for online betting and have basically transformed into an entire industry in their own right.
As a result, there are plenty of opportunities on offer for businesses looking to align themselves to this amazing phenomenon.
As we’ve already mentioned, esports are thriving around the world. The biggest competitions happen in the US, Asia, and Europe, though there are plenty of smaller tournaments in other regions. In terms of following games online, there are two main platforms that are favored by players and fans: Twitch and YouTube Gaming.
As the name suggests, YouTube Gaming is an offshoot of the online streaming platform that is dedicated to showing gaming and esports. Twitch is a relatively new phenomenon. Based in the US, it’s an online streaming platform that has been created with video games in mind. While it was launched ten years ago, it’s only really risen to prominence relatively recently.
Twitch lets you watch players and games in real-time, following the latest contests and matches as they happen. Another major player is GosuGamers, one of the internet’s premier portals for watching esports.
Esports markets are unsurprisingly dominated by young people. The world of online betting has somewhat extended the market, but in general, it’s focused on people under 34.
That said, it’s set to continue growing. In the past ten years, the number of people regularly watching esports has more than quadrupled, with a similar number watching esports occasionally.
Entire revenue from the industry is set to reach almost two billion dollars by 2022. As a result, the current interest in esports comes as no surprise. And out of that two billion, the largest chunk comes in the form of sponsorship.
Esports sponsorship works in much the same way as sponsorship of any other kind of sport. Businesses can choose to either become sponsors of events or to sponsor particular teams or players. Sponsorship is a way of boosting awareness of your business and raising your visibility among the millions of esports fans in the world.
If you’re interested in becoming an esports sponsor, there are a few things you should probably bear in mind. The first is that esports is a predominantly male and youth-oriented world. If your product doesn’t have much traction with this demographic, you may want to consider putting your money elsewhere.
However, if you generally market to these kinds of people, esports could be a definite winner for you. The other thing to consider is that esports takes place entirely online. Online campaigns and strategies will entirely dictate any kind of marketing and sponsorship you pursue, and all increased awareness will exist online.
Sponsorship has brought fairly impressive rewards to some businesses. As we’ve already mentioned, the most successful ones have been businesses with easily sellable products to the esports demographic. A great example of this is Louis Vuitton. They may not sound like the obvious pitch for gamers, but they came up with an ingenious marketing plan.
They designed a custom bag for the trophy of the 2019 League of Legends Cup. LOL, as it’s commonly known, is easily one of the biggest esports out there and constitutes one of the most popular online multiplayer games of all time.
Louis Vuitton recognized the value in creating a presence at the event, and although not being the obvious choice for sponsorship, they were able to adapt to the environment to the extent that they actually created unique skins for player avatars during the event. Another great example is Bud Light, a beer that now self-identifies as the ‘official beer of esports’.
Bud light partnered with Overwatch League – another one of the most popular esports out there – to procure the best seats for the tournament and provide guests with luxurious bonus experiences. These are just two of the standout success stories associated with major brands becoming involved in esports sponsorship.
You’re going to need to do some planning before you get involved in the world of esports sponsorship. The first thing you need to do is gain some familiarity with esports and work out how your business can be connected to it. Businesses with a tangible relevance to esports and the esports demographic are obviously at an advantage, but even so, it’s worth working out who exactly your target audience will be.
There are various game types, with first-person shooters and strategies dominating, but there are plenty of other options. With careful research, you can learn the ideal niche to target your marketing to, and move forward accordingly. Another major point to consider is the role of influencers.
As with many other niches of the internet, esports influencers are the ideal broker for a business looking to break into the esports market. The right influencer can use their existing network to alert fans to your products and services, providing you with a marketing boost that can turn into real conversions.
Esports is an exciting new world for players, fans, and businesses. As we’ve seen, there are plenty of opportunities on offer if you know how to play things right. This article should serve as the ideal guide for anyone looking into investing in esports marketing.
With the right demographic research and intelligent strategies, esports can deliver solid returns for just about any business. And once you’ve got a solid fan base, the returns more than justify the work needed for success.