New study suggests younger demographics prefer eSports to traditional sports pursuits

An international study that involved over 4,000 respondents in the US, France, Germany, India, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Kingdom has indicated that young men and women in the United States watch eSports more than traditional sports.

The study, titled State of Online Video was conducted by independent CDN service provider Limelight Networks and targeted a diversity of demographic groups that included differences in gender, salary, age, and education levels to avoid bias.

Of the 4,000 people, more men and women from ages 18 to 25 watch eSports and online video gaming than all traditional sports combined. In fact, for the men, the only things they do watch online more than eSports are movies.

Even for men and women of the next age bracket, ages 26 to 35, eSports was only barely surpassed by traditional sports, suggesting that the eSports industry has gone mainstream.

Of the 500 Americans polled, over 20 percent of those in the millennial age bracket watch eSports regularly, Limelight reported.

NBA teams, Disney, the International Olympic Committee, the MLB, and even former NBA players like Rick Fox and Shaquille O’Neal have either shown interest or have holdings in eSports and eSports organizations.

An example of the pulling power of eSports was seen last year when the 2016 World Championship for League of Legends, one of the most popular competitive video games, attracted hundreds of millions viewers around the globe.

See the report and relevant graphs here: https://dotesports.com/business/study-shows-young-men-women-watch-esports-more-than-sports-17363