SuperData recently conducted a study of the eSports market and estimated that it would be worth $1.9 billion by 2018.
SuperData is one of the leading industry economists and has compiled many reports on things such as mobile gaming, console vs PC, and virtual reality. Now, it concentrated its efforts on the eSports market and attempted to estimate its current value and possible growth in the next few years. For now, SuperData calculated the global eSports market is worth around $748 million. However, it would double in size by 2018 and possibly be worth around $1.9 billion.
SuperData also attempted to see what were the main sources of revenue in the eSports market and discovered that the biggest fraction of its value comes from sponsorships and advertising (77%) but a considerable amount of value is also found in the amateur tournament market and in the betting sites, two industries which are expected to grow considerably in the next few years. Prize pools currently amounts to a 7% of the eSports market value and is most likely going to go down as the industry grows at an exponential rate (this does not mean that prize pools will be lower, simply that tournament organizers will be able to make much more money and thus prize pools will become a less significant part of the market value). Finally, ticket sales and merchandising made up the last 4%. Here is the infographic.
Right, so how will the eSports market grow in the next few years? As it becomes a bigger part of the mainstream media it is highly likely that the sponsorships and advertising department will grow but so will the merchandise. As players become bigger global icons so will the demand for in-game and real life merchandise related to them. This is already happening in games like Dota where people are able to buy exclusive sets made for players.
The biggest potential market here, though, is the amateur tournaments and eSports betting sites which will become much much bigger in the future according to SuperData. The more people that watch competitive games, the more people will want to participate in something similar (amateur tournaments) and the more people will want to make money off it. More importantly, as prizepools become more lucrative, there will be a greater incentive for people to participate in amateur tournaments in the first place as they will be able to taste first-hand what it means to be a pro-gamer.
Overall, the study shows that the eSports market has yet many untapped areas and shows promise for the next few years. Let’s hope that this is true, and that eSports can become as big an industry as other entertainment media.
