The Rapid Growth of eSports

If you are following the latest trends in the gambling industry, you have likely heard of competitive gaming, also known as eSports. This online sport has seen a dramatic increase in popularity in recent years, a trend that is likely to continue in the future. Experts predict that the industry will reach the whopping $3 billion in revenue by 2022, a fact which comes as a no surprise due to the recent explosive growth of eSports .

What is eSports?

First, we should clarify what an eSport is. In electronic sports, professional players compete against each other at playing video games in national and international leagues, just like in all sports. Although some people do not consider them as a sport, eSports definitely match the definition of a sport: an activity or physical exercise, subject to certain rules, where the skills of the player are being tested.

Even though the concept of eSports is relatively new, competitive gaming has been around for nearly half a century. The first event was held in 1972 in a small computer lab at the University of Stanford. It wasn’t until the recent years, however, that it boomed in popularity and started to take off as a live stream event watched by millions.

What is the future of eSports?

As mentioned above, eSports have seen an explosive growth in popularity in recent years. The monthly audience in 2018 has reached 167 million. This number is expected to increase with 40% over the next 5 years, reaching 276 million monthly viewers by 2022, according to Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research report. With a viewership of this size, eSports are set to rival traditional sports, such as basketball and football. For comparison, 124 million viewers tuned in to watch the 2017 Super Bowl.

According to Goldman Sachs, the global eSports industry will reach $869 million in revenue by the end of the year. This number is expected to triple by 2022, reaching $3 billion. As with other sports, advertising, media rights, and sponsorships are a large source of revenue for eSports, with sponsorship in the lead. This, however, is expected to change. As more and more television and media organizations pay large sums for broadcasting rights, media rights are expected to become the largest revenue opportunity in 2022.

Another important factor which has aided in the industry growth is earnings. Nowadays gaming tournaments give out large prize pools, which compete with the awards given by other traditional sports competitions. Tournaments like League of Legends have a prize pool of $12 million. The 2017 Dota 2 International competition gave out awards coming to a total of $23 million. As a comparison, the Daytona 500 motor race has a cumulative award value of $18 million. Professional players can also receive income by live-streaming on platforms such as Twitch. Popular figures such as Ninja, who is a professional Fortnite player and Internet personality, can reportedly earn up to $1M a month.

Who is watching?

Since the eSports popularity grew in the late 2000s, it can be said that a large part of the audience are millennials. It is estimated by researchers that 79% of the audience is younger than 35. This is probably because most of the live streams are done through YouTube and Twitch, platforms which have a predominantly younger audience. It is also interesting to mention that more people watch YouTube & Twitch, than HBO, Netflix & ESPN combined. Only in 2017, users watched 355 billion minutes worth of content on Twitch. Other famous streaming platforms are Douyu and Huya, which are booming in the Asian market.

Betting on eSports

The eSports industry is still new compared to traditional sports, however, the desire of fans to bet on the results and events of the games is the same. Bookmakers have adapted their working methods to the game format and as a result today everyone has the opportunity to make their bets today. Unlike with traditional sports, however, the bookmaker companies do not have a decade of data collection and analytics that can be used to determine the odds and probabilities of the winners. This is why most companies create their own databases to predict the results.

Betting on eSports is very similar to betting on traditional sports. It can be done fairly quick and easy on most betting websites. There you can find advise and expert predictions on the best gaming events to bet on, as well as the odds of the teams and players participating.

In conclusion, eSports are definitely growing fast and are set to gain even more global attention in the upcoming years. The future of the industry looks bright and exciting. The teams are now managed like any other sports team, the salaries and prizes are growing and more people are aspiring to become professional players. The sport will get more media recognition, and grow in popularity within the mainstream and gambling scene as a result.

Stay tuned for more information and tips on eSports.