Source: BrinkNews

The Era of the Esport Industry

The esport industry has been growing at an alarming pace, in both viewership and revenue, and is anticipated to generate more than US$1.5 billion by 2023. At the same time, viewership numbers are also expected to surpass 646 million viewers, championing an 11% growth just from 2020 to 2021. With this increasing popularity of competitive video games, the esport industry has started to integrate into mainstream culture, where companies across all sectors are beginning to shift their focus towards being a part of this success. Esports even secured a place as a medal event in the 2019 SEA Games. This boom can also be attributed to the success of streaming platforms like Twitch, FacebookGaming and Youtube Gaming, where fans can directly interact with their favorite players and teams.

Source: Statista

Success and outreach of esports teams and individuals

Source: Neon.com

Esports Teams and Advertising

The ability to draw in large crowds both online and offline during tournaments and events, the outreach that esports has is definitely something to pay attention to. Similar to the sports industry, esports organisations have proprietors, establishments, endorsements and monetary rewards from competitions, generating huge revenue figures over the years. With this, let us also take a look at the 3 most valuable and largest esports teams in 2020 according to Forbes.

Most Successful and Largest Esports Teams: 

1.  TeamSoloMid (TSM)
   
   Value: $410 million
   Estimated Revenue: $45 million
   Revenue from Esports: 50%
   
   
2. Cloud9
   
   Value: $350 million
   Estimated Revenue: $30 million
   Revenue from Esports: 70%
   
   
3. Team Liquid
   
   Value: $310 million
   Estimated Revenue: $28 million
   Revenue from Esports: 89%

Esports Influencers

Furthermore, with many well-known gamers (E.g. Shroud, Ninja, etc) in the esport industry having a loyal and huge fan base that rivals those of idols and movie stars, the influence of these influencers are not limited to only video games. 

For example, Shroud, a top influencer on Twitch was once a professional player from Cloud9. Although he left competitive esport scene in 2018, his influence in the industry only continued to increase. Shroud also commands a massive following on other social media channels. On Twitter, he has close to 1.8 million followers, and has over 6.8 million subscribers on Youtube.

Additionally, according to Neon, 100% of the esports audience is on some form of social media. Seeing such capabilities of esport influencers and scale of largest esports teams, it is no wonder that companies everywhere are devoting resources towards the gaining a pie within the esport industry to either raise awareness or drive sales. 

Future of the Esport Industry

In the future to come, with improvements to accessibility and technology, the growth of esport industry is bound to continue its upward trajectory in terms of influence and revenue. With new games appearing so often, mobile games making it accessible for everyone and the dawn of the 5G connection, the future of Esports is bright and we should definitely pay more attention to it..