The e-sports economy: Why it is significant for marketing opportunities

Image credit: Alex Haney on Unsplash.com.

Of late, have seen numerous media coverage of e-sport, especially the international media. Why is this the case? Because is growing in proportionately big in Asia (China), the United States of America, and into the European market. You may ask why we (South Africans) must care about e-sports.

Since the outbreak of coronavirus so many activities have been halted. Sports games have been cancelled citing concerns over the spread of the virus. The world has changed from what we are used to, to now doing everything online.

E-sport is the online version of the world of sports as we know it, from playing on the field to online gaming with large spectators watching. Therefore, it’s important that marketers and brands take note of this fast-growing sporting economy which presents plenty of opportunities to capitalise on. We have seen some of the biggest names within the e-sporting referred to as gamers getting endorsements from the biggest brands.

Let’s look at the audience forecast as per the Newzoo E-sport Global Report which looked into the overall e-sports economy.

Marketers and brands need to take a closer look at this booming marketing opportunity even though it hasn't expanded much into the South Africa market. Like they say every cloud has a silver lining, once it opens up there will be no time to study the market.

During this lockdown which has been implemented by the government in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19, e-sports would present similar marketing opportunities as that of live sports games. ESPN has committed to televising some of the e-sport games during the coronavirus crisis lockdown. According to the 2018 report, e-sports revenues streams projection figures: global e-sports economy will grow to $906m, YoY growth of +38. The majority of this, 77%, will be generated directly (sponsorships and advertising) and indirectly (media rights and content licenses) through investments made by endemic and non-endemic brands that will spend $694m, an impressive 48% increase since the previous years.

A winning marketing strategy is about seen an opportunity and seize it to that advantage of the brand. In my opinion, e-sport economy is that opportunity waiting to be seized.