When it comes to marketing and advertising, brands are always on the hunt for the next big thing that allows them to create brand awareness and generate sales. One sector that seems promising and relatively new is the E-sports (Electronic Sports) sector. E-sports is an industry in which video gamers play competitively in leagues and tournaments globally, in-person, and online. E-sports offers a variety of sports games that people can choose from and then compete in. Some of the bigger professional tournaments offer large prize pools, for example, “the International” tournament, in the game of DOTA 2, gave out over $15 million in prize money to the winning team in 2019. Teams often play under the banner of an organization and these organizations frequently have multiple teams competing in various video games, offering potential partners a wide range of exposure. Some of the most famous organizations include Cloud9, Team Liquid, FaZe clan, Fnatic, Optic Gaming, and Natus Vincere.
Between 350 and 400 million people watch e-sports online and in-person, and the numbers of viewers for some of the biggest e-sports events have surpassed those of real sports. During the 2016 world finals for the game League of Legends, more than 43 million people watched, while game 7 of the NBA finals in that same year had 31 million viewers worldwide (Chapman, 2017). With global viewership increasing rapidly, some of the world’s biggest brands have started forming partnerships with organizations and have invested in the industry.
American apparel giant Nike has struck a deal with the League of Legions Pro League (LPL) in China and is also sponsoring the Brazilian professional Counter-Strike team FURIA (Srivatsan, 2019). Mountain Dew has partnered with the biggest platform, organizer, and host for games in the world, the electronic sports league or ESL; while BMW is sponsoring the American professional gaming organization Cloud9 (Fitch, 2019). Other brands that have started getting involved include: Red Bull, which is sponsoring professional teams ENCE and BIG; and Adidas, which has signed with the most watched streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins as well as French pro team Vitality.
Many brands are aware of the effects of what Berger (2013) describes as social currency, in which brands can benefit from good game mechanics and consumers staying engaged, motivated, and wanting more. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, player and spectator numbers have climbed dramatically and offer even greater exposure for brands (Allenstein, Gediehn, Lehmann & Singer, 2020).
Influencers have also contributed to e-sports becoming more powerful, particularly with celebrity endorsements. Many celebrities and influencers have invested heavily into the industry and are quite active online themselves. Whether it is OBJ streaming his game play of Call of Duty, Neymar Jr. playing Counter-Strike Global Offensive, or Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios streaming game play of Fortnite, many celebrities have either picked up playing and streaming or actively invested into the industry. Michael Jordan invested $26 million into aXiomatic gaming; Drake became a co-owner into 100 Thieve’s Fortnite devision; NBA star Steph Curry invested into world famous e-sports company TSM; and Shaquille O’neal directed some of his dollars toward e-sport organization NRG (Chan, 2020).
These questions remain: Where will e-sports go from here? Will e-sports be able to compete with real sports in terms of contracts, wages, etc.?
Reference:
Allenstein, U., Gediehn, O., Lehmann, S., & Singer, D. (2020, August 03). Esports and the next frontier of brand sponsorships. Retrieved October 08, 2020, from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/e-sports-and-the-next-frontier-of-brand-sponsorships
Berger, J. (2016). Contagious: Why things catch on. Simon and Schuster.
Chapman, J. (2017, July 06). Esports: A Guide to Competitive Video Gaming. Retrieved October 08, 2020, from https://www.toptal.com/finance/market-research-analysts/esports
Fitch, A. (2019, March 12). Cloud9 announces BMW as automotive sponsor. Retrieved October 08, 2020, from https://esportsinsider.com/2019/03/cloud9-announces-bmw-as-automotive-sponsor/
Srivatsan, S. (2019, December 22). 2019’s Top Ten brand integrations in Esports ” TalkEsport. Retrieved October 08, 2020, from https://www.talkesport.com/originals/2019s-top-ten-brand-integrations-in-esports/
2 Responses to E-sports: Game On