eSports viewership up 19 percent in 2016
News on 13 May 2017
News on 13 May 2017
A study by IHS Markit reports that in 2016 global viewership figures for eSports events rose by 19 percent to 6 billion hours, and forecasts that the eSports video market is expected to deliver US$1 billion in advertising revenues by 2020.
According to the research outfit’s eSports and the Future of TV report, online video remains the key driver of the eSports video market, with China the largest market for eSports video, accounting for 57 percent of all viewing last year. The number of video streams delivered in China totalled 11.1 billion in 2016, compared with North America, the second-largest market, with 2.7 billion video streams.
Esports advertising revenue was about US$280 million globally in 2016, but eSports is expected to become a US$1 billion industry by 2021. The growth will be primarily driven by video, influencer marketing and sponsorship, according to IHS Markit.
“The rapid growth of eSports audiences has attracted some of the industry’s largest media and technology companies to the genre, with the likes of Amazon and MTG acquiring key assets,” said Ted Hall, research director for IHS Markit and the report’s lead author.
“Some of these acquisitions are initiating shifts in eSports business dynamics, with players such as China’s Tencent seeking to control assets across the value chain, and publishers moving into league operation. Investment in eSports will pay off for its big-name backers, as the genre expands both within its target demographic and outside it, with increasing exposure on linear TV set to bring in casual and new fans.”
IHS found that whilst online still accounts for the majority of eSports video viewing, the global reach of the activity and the fact that publishers of eSports content are using video to drive other businesses holds important lessons for TV companies.
“The rise of eSports provides some valuable lessons for channels and programmers more broadly. In particular, it demonstrates the value of aggregating audiences globally, rather than the more country-specific approach that defined much of the traditional TV business,” said Dan Cryan, senior director, IHS Markit and a co-author of the report.
