The Esports industry – analysis and forecast
Esports (also known as electronic sports), is a type of sport played on an electronic system in which all the functions of the sport are performed by professional gamers who are usually a part of sporting organizations. Although you may jump to the conclusion that esports is a virtual variant of physical sports, that’s not the case here. Esports refers to a wide range of game genres such as MOBA (League of Legends, DOTA 2), first-person-shooters (Counter-Strike, Call of Duty), real-time strategy games (Starcraft II), and many others. Recently, NJ Games conducted a study into the esports industry. Here are some of the insights we learned about esports.
Esports is attracting a vast audience, and the viewership is snowballing. The industry absorbed in 335 million fans in 2017, and is expected to grow to 557 by 2021. At a global level the esports industry has reached 84% of people aged 21-65 in some capacity.
The esports industry has had significant growth in revenue over the years, and it just beginning to be tapped. In 2012, worldwide revenues generated in the esports market amounted to $130 million. However, the rapidly growing industry is predicted to grow to $1.385 billion in 2021.
With the exponential growth of the esports market, the demand to watch other people play video games live has increased. Twitch is the most used platform of its kind with over 55 million users, and the numbers keep rising. In 2014, twitch was bought by Amazon for $970 million in cash and now it accounts for 43% of all live-video streaming traffic, by far more than anyone else.
YouTube has also added a live streaming service to its website. In the first three months of 2017, it generated $940 total tip volume. Although the number of active streamers on YouTube is growing, the potential for a larger fan base is still much higher on Twitch.
With an enormous fan base, and an increasingly wide array of games, the esports industry is growing exponentially as a new independent industry and sports. If you are interested in finding out how much the esports industry has grown over the past few years, by all means, don’t stop reading the infographic below.
