The NEW investments in e-sports

eSports are video games competitions that have become the target of many marketing strategies of major brands. Although these types of competitions generate low direct income, they have been growing their audience every year, especially since the pandemic began, and this has caught the attention of big brands. The video games sector, more specifically its competitions and tournaments, has a great economic potential and will make other sectors grow as well, creating new jobs and professions in the coming years.

According to AEVI (Asociación Española de Videojuegos), with the arrival of the pandemic the number of spectators, players and fans has grown more than expected since, unlike other events, eSports have not stopped and at least the 90% of them continued being broadcasted, which makes their economic activity not to slow down. According to eSports White Book, 70% of the income from these events come from advertising and sponsorships, so mass consumer brands look to this target.

In the Spanish market, firms that have nothing to do with the sector such as Red Bull, San Miguel, Banco de Santander, Mapfre or El Corte Inglés have joined the list of large sponsors that can be considered endemic of the sector (related to computer components, software…) and the main telecommunications operators (such as Movistar, Orange and Vodafone). The result is a big market that is expanding towards other sectors with an extremely attractive target: teenagers and young adults who buy at high prices, from technology products to clothing brands. That is why many firms want to access this market segment, which is difficult to find in other media.

However, eSports are still an incipient market, so the main objective of these large firms when they enter it is to generate a sufficient business network. They are more focused on increasing the mass of consumers rather than in monetizing the competitions or finding a return on the investments. They are investing to cover more territory, more games and even produce the tournaments themselves to generate a sustainable growth, which justifies the investments for the future.

It is also worth mentioning that eSports have become a benchmark in Spain. This country is the number one in penetration of eSport consumption, it has the most developed national market in Europe, large national organizers of internationally recognized competitions, international operators based in Spain and three large telecommunication companies investing in it. This attracts both national and international investments to the country, which is now among the Top 10 countries with the highest volume of video games business in the World and among the Top 5 within European countries.

Source: ABC Economy