Esports: the New Playbook in Sports Marketing

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing

Discover how COVID-19 impacted the Sports and Esports industry on social media. About the Report Socialbakers

This report reveals critical social media data for the Sports and Esports With over 2,500 clients across 100 countries, Socialbakers is a unified industry during COVID-19. The data includes side-by-side comparisons for marketing platform that helps enterprise and SMB brands manage social the volume of posts, community growth, interactions, followers, and media marketing. Socialbakers has been a Facebook Marketing Partner audience sentiment. since 2011, a Pinterest Marketing Partner since 2017, and a LinkedIn Marketing Partner since 2017. Socialbakers was named in the 2018 Inc. The report outlines the dramatic social media changes in the Sports 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in Europe. industry and highlights key viewpoints on how the Esports industry was directly affected. Moreover, the report shows how professionals from both industries used social media to maintain connections with fans while social G2 Esports distancing. G2 Esports is the world’s leading esports club in the industry and one of the Learn more about how major leagues, sports clubs, and athletes managed largest organizations in the world. Co-founded by famous League of Legends the impact of canceled sports events worldwide and how they engaged player-turned-team owner, Carlos ‘ocelote’ Rodriguez, and esports their fans online and off the field. entrepreneur and investor, Jens Hilgers. With an outstanding record over the years, G2 Esports won several tournaments in 2019, including this year’s North American Rocket League Champions 2020.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 1 Table of Contents

The Industry That Changed Forever 3 Twitch: Lockdowns Open New Doors for Twitch 22 Postponed/Canceled Sports Events 4 Twitch Viewer-Counts 2020 23 Sports Clubs: Rethinking Revenue 5 Twitch’s Special Place for Sports Games 24 As Countries Lockdown, Esports Skyrockets 6 Twitch’s Coronavirus Charity 25 Esports Viewers in the US Market 7 Celebrities: The New Mainstream Medium is Gaming 26 Social Media Data Comparisons: Sports vs. Esports 8 G2 Esports: Inside View 27 Volume of Posts 9 Key Takeaways 28 Volume of Interactions 10 Outlook for the Future 29 Audience Engagement (Interactions) 11 Community Growth 12 Esports Volume of Interactions 13 Audience Sentiment by Industry 14 Athletes: How Athletes Connected With Fans off the Field 16 First-Time Streaming Tweets From Athletes 17 Most-Engaging Athletes/Gamer Posts 18 Online Charity Challenge 19 Social Media Engagement From New Audiences 20

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 2 The Industry That Changed Forever

The spread of COVID-19 hit the sports industry hard. Major professional leagues worldwide canceled games and suspended seasons, leaving marketers in the sports industry vulnerable with massive ad losses.

Statista has found that the sports industry’s revenue will be under $74 billion in 2020, which is almost half of the pre-COVID-19 estimates, $135 billion.

After months of isolation and social distancing, sports fans and athletes have found a new entertainment outlet — Esports and online gaming.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 3 Introduction: The Industry That Changed Forever

The Olympic and The Euro 500+ International Sports Paralympic Games Championships Events — Postponed or Postponed until 2021 Postponed until 2021 Canceled

Since the end of April, ESPN has tracked all major postponed/canceled sports events around the globe.

When Japan postponed the Summer Olympics from 2020 until 2021, the country experienced an estimated loss of 4.5 trillion yen. Even the cancellation of NBA’s March Madness 2020 FIA Formula 1 March Madness: World Championship NCAA 2020 caused a potential loss of $933 million in media rights, ticket sales, and sponsorships, alone. Postponed until 2021 Canceled

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 4 Introduction: The Industry That Changed Forever

Sports Clubs: Rethinking Revenue

Most sports club incomes rely on the revenue of their games. In some cases, sports clubs have even started to support each other.

Luton Town Football Club’s chief executive Gary Sweet called on the Premier League to use its £1.5 billion cash reserves to help those clubs in trouble.

Specifically, top Bundesliga Clubs pledged €20 million to support smaller clubs in the league.

With losses at a massive scale, major leagues and athletes are looking for new ways to engage with fans.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 5 As Countries Lockdown, Esports Skyrockets

Esports has taken the world by storm. Competitive video gaming has become the one place where sports fans can congregate online and experience the same excitement and adrenaline of competition.

The absence of “real” sports presents an opportunity for virtual technologies to grow — helping the industry connect with fans through social media.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 6 As Countries Lockdown, Esports Skyrockets

Esports Viewers in the United States

Esports Viewers in the US Market

Esports has been booming over recent years with more than half of NFL’s total viewership in the US. By 2023, the Esports industry is expected to have 300 million frequent viewers of Esports worldwide — a vast increase from 173 million in 2018.

NFL Esport MLB NBA NHL MLS 141M 84M 79M 63M 32M 16M

Source: MBA@Syracuse 2019 Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 7 Social Media Data

Comparisons: Sports Clubs Esports Leagues Sports vs. Esports

The next section of the report is based on the Socialbakers' data analysis on the Sports and vs. Esports industries.

The following data compares Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube channels from global leagues in Sports versus global leagues in Esports — covering critical areas from the volume of posts, community growth, followers, and volume of interactions.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 8 Social Media Data Comparisons: Sports vs. Esports

Content Creation Overall Volume Of Posts Falls Dramatically 12 k

January – March are prime months for the professional sports 9 k league (e.g., the NFL Super Bowl, NBA's All-Stars, etc.), causing the volume of social media posts for Sports to increase significantly between January and February. 6 k

As COVID-19 spreads globally during the end of February, Number of Content Pieces 3 k post content for Sports channels drops rapidly, while Esports

was unaffected. 0

Jan 27 Feb 24 Mar 23 Apr 20

Sport Esport Improve Your Content Strategy with Precise Metrics

Source: The Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube Channels of the UEFA Football Clubs, the NBA Clubs, the CHL Clubs and the F1 Teams from 1st of February 2020 to May the 15th, 2020. In the Esports section, Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 9 all teams of the LEC, LCS, LPL, RLCS, R6PL, ESLPL and BP League are present. Postings exclude @replys on Twitter and posts from fans on the respective timeline. Data is available and can be made available. Social Media Data Comparisons: Sports vs. Esports

Volume of Interactions Less Content = Less Engaged Audiences 34,0 M

25,5 M Audience interactions with Sports social media content have slowly decreased, while audience interactions with Esports content were barely affected. 17,0 M

Interactions Total Interactions As some athletes become individual online gamers during this period, the graph shows Streamer data (Youtube) to see the 8,5 M comparisons in engagement.

Feb 01 Feb 17 Mar 04 Mar 20 Apr 05 Apr 21 May 07

Sports Esports Streamers Get More Metrics on Engagement for Your Brand

Source: The Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube Channels of the UEFA Football Clubs, the NBA Clubs, the CHL Clubs and the F1 Teams from 1st of February 2020 to May the 15th, 2020. In the Esports section, Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 10 all teams of the LEC, LCS, LPL, RLCS, R6PL, ESLPL and BP League are present. Postings exclude @replys on Twitter and posts from fans on the respective timeline. Data is available and can be made available. Social Media Data Comparisons: Sports vs. Esports

Audience Engagement Interactions per 1k Followers During Lockdown 8 k

The number of interactions in Sports social media channels 6 k have dropped passed Esports channels during mid-March.

There were no dramatic changes in Esports channels; 4 k however, it has slightly generated more peaks of interactions in recent months.

Interactions per 1k Followers Interactions 2 k

Feb 01 Feb 17 Mar 04 Mar 20 Apr 05 Apr 21 May 07

Sports Esports Streamers See How Your Audience is Engaging with Your Content

Source: The Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube Channels of the UEFA Football Clubs, the NBA Clubs, the CHL Clubs and the F1 Teams from 1st of February 2020 to May the 15th, 2020. In the Esports section, Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 11 all teams of the LEC, LCS, LPL, RLCS, R6PL, ESLPL and BP League are present. Postings exclude @replys on Twitter and posts from fans on the respective timeline. Data is available and can be made available. Social Media Data Comparisons: Sports vs. Esports

Community Growth Community Growth Decreases 600 k

450 k Sports social media channels experienced a drop in community growth. Considering most Esports seasons start mid-January, Esports channels saw a rapid spike, 300 k then returned to normal. Growth of Community Size Growth 150 k

0 See Your Community Growth on Social Feb 01 Feb 26 Mar 19 Apr 10 May 02

Sports Esports

Source: The Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube Channels of the UEFA Football Clubs, the NBA Clubs, the CHL Clubs and the F1 Teams from 1st of February 2020 to May the 15th, 2020. In the Esports section, Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 12 all teams of the LEC, LCS, LPL, RLCS, R6PL, ESLPL and BP League are present. Postings exclude @replys on Twitter and posts from fans on the respective timeline. Data is available and can be made available. Social Media Data Comparisons: Sports vs. Esports

Volume of Interactions

Sports Com. Growth Esports Com. Growth Esports Thrives While Feb 01, 2020 - May 14, 2020 Feb 01, 2020 - May 14, 2020 Sports Takes a Hit -19.48% +55.63% Relative Change Relative Change

-3.13 M +1.13 M Absolute Change Absolute Change Based on the overall numbers and the relative perspective, Sports social media channels plummeted in both community growth and interactions in comparison with Esports. Interactions per 1k Followers

Sports Com Interaction Esports Interactions Feb 01, 2020 - May 14, 2020 Feb 01, 2020 - May 14, 2020 Get a Full View of Your Social Media Performance -24.04% +8.31% Relative Change Relative Change

-214.04 M +5.13 M Absolute Change Absolute Change

Source: The Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube Channels of the UEFA Football Clubs, the NBA Clubs, the CHL Clubs and the F1 Teams from 1st of February 2020 to May the 15th, 2020. In the Esports section, Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 13 all teams of the LEC, LCS, LPL, RLCS, R6PL, ESLPL and BP League are present. Postings exclude @replys on Twitter and posts from fans on the respective timeline. Data is available and can be made available. Social Media Data Comparisons: Sports vs. Esports

Sports Fans Remain Esports Supportive Even in Times of Crisis Sentiment of Comments Esports

Feb 01, 2020 - May 14, 2020 Aggregated by Week Socialbakers’ audience sentiment analysis identifies critical conversations within communities on social media platforms 80 k — dividing into three categories: positive , negative , and neutral.

60 k The engagement in Esports and Sports channels is more positive than the sentiment of Telecom channels. As a comparison, the

40 k Telecom industry received mixed sentiment during the pandemic.

Comments, User Posts Due to many staying at home, the internet would reach its max 20 k bandwidth more than usual, causing connectivity problems. 0 Unhappy players would turn to social media to voice their Feb 03 Feb 17 Mar 02 Mar 16 Mar 30 Apr 13 Apr 27 May 11 frustrations. Positive Negative Neutral

Identify Critical Conversations About Your Brand

Source: The Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube Channels of the UEFA Football Clubs, the NBA Clubs, the CHL Clubs and the F1 Teams from 1st of February 2020 to May the 15th, 2020. In the Esports section, Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 14 all teams of the LEC, LCS, LPL, RLCS, R6PL, ESLPL and BP League are present. Postings exclude @replys on Twitter and posts from fans on the respective timeline. Data is available and can be made available. Social Media Data Comparisons: Sports vs. Esports

Sports Telecommunication

Sentiment of Comments Sports Sentiment of Comments Telecom.

Feb 01, 2020 - May 14, 2020 Aggregated by Week Feb 01, 2020 - May 14, 2020 Aggregated by Week

320 k 220 k

240 k 165 k

160 k 110 k Comments, User Posts Comments, User Posts 80 k 55 k

0 0 Feb 03 Feb 17 Mar 02 Mar 16 Mar 30 Apr 13 Apr 27 May 11 Feb 03 Feb 17 Mar 02 Mar 16 Mar 30 Apr 13 Apr 27 May 11

Positive Negative Neutral Positive Negative Neutral

Source: The Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube Channels of the UEFA Football Clubs, the NBA Clubs, the CHL Clubs and the F1 Teams from 1st of February 2020 to May the 15th, 2020. In the Esports section, Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 15 all teams of the LEC, LCS, LPL, RLCS, R6PL, ESLPL and BP League are present. Postings exclude @replys on Twitter and posts from fans on the respective timeline. Data is available and can be made available. How Athletes Connected With Fans off the Field

From the field to the gaming chair, several athletes have taken up online gaming as a part-time profession or a temporary distraction.

These athletes have engaged with fans by participating in competitive gaming for various titles since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.

Whole industries (e.g. Formula 1) and other athletes used social media and game streaming as a new way to engage with new audiences.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 16 How Athletes Connected With Fans off the Field

First-Time Streaming Tweets From Athletes

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 17 How Athletes Connected With Fans off the Field

Most-Engaging Athletes/Gamer Posts

Games are a great way for athletes to connect and interact with fans directly. Athletes often combine their streams with playing with teammates or from opposing teams. Fans also have the opportunity to join the games in some cases.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 18 How Athletes Connected With Fans off the Field

Online Charity Challenge

In Spain, 20 football players took part in an online-charity-tournament called the #LaLigaSantanderChallenge and raised over 140,000 Euros for the fight against COVID-19.

Hosted by internet celebrity Ibai Llanos, he supported the challenge with his streaming expertise and played against David Ferrer in an online Madrid Open.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 19 How Athletes Connected With Fans off the Field

Interactions on All Posts

1.8 M Social Media 1.35 M Engagement from New 900 k Interactions Audiences 450 k

Feb 02 Feb 20 Mar 09 Mar 27 Apr 12 Apr 27 May 14

Source: The Twitter and Youtube Channels of selective athletes turned streamers from 1st of February 2020 to May the 15th, 2020. Data is available and can be made available. Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 20 How Athletes Connected With Fans off the Field

Interactions per 1k Followers

340 k

255 k Based on the Twitter and YouTube channels of selected athletes who turned into streamers, there were spikes of interactions during days 170 k they streamed live and picked up a new form of engagement with Interactions their fans.

85 k

Feb 02 Feb 20 Mar 09 Mar 27 Apr 12 Apr 27 May 14

Twitch has become the new media platform during the COVID-19 crisis for gamers and sports fans alike.

The Twitch community became more diverse and grew significantly in 2020 — marking the top year for the live streaming platform in its history.

Twitch jumped 50% in hours watched from March – April and a full 101% year over year, leading up to 1.645 billion hours watched per month.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 22 Lockdowns Open New Doors for Twitch

Twitch Viewer-Counts Despite staying indoors, the viewer count on Twitch rose significantly Soared in the First — and so did the number of channels. Athletes were participating, including Months of 2020 the likes such as Sergio Leonel Agüero, Blake Snell, and Luka Doncic.

Source: twitchtracker.com Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 23 Lockdowns Open New Doors for Twitch

Twitch’s Special Place for Sports Games

FIFA 20 has received more traction over the last few months, while many other games gained more viewers. One of the rising channels playing FIFA 20 (and other games) belongs to Sergio Leonel Agüero.

His channel grew from 473 followers during mid-April to almost a million followers by mid-May.

Source: twitchtracker.com Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 24 Lockdowns Open New Doors for Twitch

Twitch’s Coronavirus Charity

NFL Superstars JuJu Smith-Schuster, Richard Sherman, and Darius Slay joined other celebrities to stream play on Twitch for Coronavirus Relief.

The event raised almost $3 million for the World Health Organization's Coronavirus Solidarity Response Fund.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 25 The New Mainstream Medium: Gaming

While athletes used games to connect with fans and build their brand, other celebrities used the extra time during lockdown to join their fans in gaming.

Travis Scott performed a virtual music concert within Fortnite. The virtual show had over 12 million people attending live and gained over 64 million views on YouTube.

Several celebrities such as, Chrissy Teigen and Elijah Wood, have entered Nintendo’s world of Animal Crossing.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 26 The Inside Look Into Esports

“Sport, as we know it, will not be the same for the foreseeable future. While traditional sports crumbled, esports went back to its roots in digital entertainment. Discovering old ways to engage fans, improve online content strategies, and stay relevant to partners came natural to esports. As sports stadiums have gone dark, esports prevailed and took over what the traditional sport could not. G2 Esports’ content creator and one of the most famous casters in Spain, Ibai Llanos, was one of the first to assemble players from every team in the Spanish first football division to compete in an online tournament that hit 180,000 viewers online and raised over €140,000 to fight COVID-19 in Spain. Sports leagues including the NBA, Nascar, Europe’s F1, and major football leagues have replaced their canceled events with purely digital events that resulted in impressive viewership numbers and are inspired by the esports origin.

The current times are proving that esports is more relevant than ever and deserves a spot next to traditional sports.”

Peter Mucha G2 Esports COO

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 27 The Takeaway

The Takeaway

Due to the lack of content, interactions dropped dramatically during the pandemic — causing the sports industry to lose significant engagement on social media. On the other hand, social media channels from the esports industry remained stable and gained major traction.

While online events may not be as profitable as in-person events, online-driven-content can be used to connect (or, in some cases, reconnect) with their fan base through games. And athletes have already recognized the potential of esports and online gaming.

Research shows that watching gamers play online is more popular than watching sports for 18-25-year-olds — spending nearly 4 hours each week. Considering that Twitch has become the most used streaming service in the gaming industry, Twitch has been growing exponentially during this time of crisis, in comparison to other video-streaming services like YouTube.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 28 Outlook for the Future

To bridge the gap between sports and esports, the sports industry has to see the gaming world as another channel to engage fans by creating more collaborative offline and online events.

This can lead to new developments on how to interact with fans and followers by creating new leagues and sports events entirely. More importantly, this can help the sports industry close the gaps in areas like seasonal pauses.

Athletes can use social media to become high-level influencers in the gaming world in-between seasons or even after retiring from a league.

For the future of the sports industry, social media will only continue to grow and serve as the leading platform for leagues, teams and athletes to connect with their fans online.

Esports: The New Playbook in Sports Marketing 29 Methodology and Glossary

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Trends Report | Q4 2019 54