E-SPORTS Case Study
How E-Sports is a booming global industry ?
c x c r u x . c o m INTRODUCTION
Esports is a booming global industry where skilled video
gamers play competitively. Contrary to common perception,
Esports is not simply a phenomenon occurring in the
basements of unemployed twentysomethings the industry is
real, growing globally, and investable. In fact, over 380 million
people watch esports worldwide both online and in person.
More people watched the 2016 world finals of popular esports
game League of Legends (43 million viewers) than the NBA
Finals Game 7 that year (31 million viewers).
www.cxcrux.com Page 2 WHICH ESPORTS GAMES ARE MOST POPULAR?
Though the actual rankings of the most popular esports games change slightly
month-to-month, the ten most-watched games on dominant streaming site
Twitch remain consistent. As of right now, League of Legends remains the
most-watched eSport in the world. It’s also worth noting, for those less familiar
with esports, that the most popular games are not traditional sports-related
video games such as Madden or FIFA.
www.cxcrux.com Page 3 INVOLVED PARTIES PLAYERS
Becoming a top Esports player is no simple achievement. To rise
through the ranks, players specialize in a specific game, developing
their skills through extensive, competitive play.
Streaming: Gamers who Livestream themselves as they play video
games are referred to as "streamers." This is typically done in casual
play. While streaming can be incredibly profitable, many streamers
have to decide whether they want to stream for a living or try and
play professionally and run the risk of making less money.
Playing Professionally: The few who rise to the professional level
compete in tournaments all around the world against the best teams.
During the journey, they usually build up a fan base for themselves as
well as for the teams and organizations they play for. Successful pro
gamers can earn six-figure salaries or even millions. www.cxcrux.com Page 4 TEAMS
Professional players join teams (in multi-player games) or play solo (in 1v1
games) to compete for cash prizes. Each team specializes and competes in
one specific game, such as League of Legends, Dota, or Counter-Strike.
The teams that compete at these tournaments have millions of followers
on Twitter, millions watching online.
ORGANIZATIONS
The best Esports teams are recruited to be a part of organizations, have
several teams that specialize in their respective video games but operate
under the same name (e.g., Cloud9, NRG, TSM, Faze clan, Optic Gaming, or
Fnatic).
LEAGUES
League tournaments are run by companies such as Major League Gaming
(MLG) or the Electronic Sports League (ESL). Leagues include North
America League of Legends Championships Series, the Call of Duty World
League (organized by MLG), or the Pro League for CS: GO (organized by
ESL). www.cxcrux.com Page 5 PUBLISHERS
In Esports, each game is the intellectual property of the game creator,
collectively referred to as “publishers.” These publishers include Riot
Games, Valve, Activision, and others. The publisher’s dynamic in the
Esports ecosystem can be considered “all-powerful.” Unlike traditional
sports, which can be played by whomever and wherever publishers
build and develop their games and subsequently own all rights
surrounding them.
www.cxcrux.com Page 6 ESPORTS AUDIENCE
Globally, the total Esports audience will grow to 495.0 million people in
2020. Esports enthusiasts (people who watch more than once a month)
make up 222.9 million of this number.
Fans are deeply engaged: Fans are already averaging 100 minutes per
session spectating. Interestingly, only about half of viewers actually play
the video game they are watching.
Fans are young digital natives: Research indicates that 65% of fans
are between the ages of 18-34, and, while the fan base does skew male,
38% of esports fans are women.
under 18 years 18 to 35 years 36 to 49 years 50 years and older
www.cxcrux.com Page 7 SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter
Already one of the most dominant and widely used social media
platforms for direct communication, Twitter holds the lion’s share
of engagement and interaction in the eSports and gaming world.
Every Twitch streamer, YouTuber, Pro Gamer, Game Developer,
Video Game, and eSports organization has a dedicated Twitter
account through which they host the majority of their interactions
with fans.
www.cxcrux.com Page 8 Twitch For the uninitiated, Twitch is one of the largest live-streaming
platforms in the world, and without a doubt, the most popular
platform for video game-specific live streaming.
Twitch also has some of the highest levels of engagement of
any major media platform, due to the nature of streamer-chat
interactions and subscriber bases.
www.cxcrux.com Page 9 YouTube
Easily the largest competitor to Twitch in the gaming industry,
YouTube has made significant moves in the past few years to
better establish itself as a lucrative platform for eSports and
live streaming. In 2018, more than 50 billion hours of gaming
videos were watched on YouTube, with an average daily
viewership count of 200 million people.
More people watched gaming content on YouTube in 2020
than ever before, and part of that expansion is thanks to
YouTube’s global outreach. About 100 billion hours of content
were watched in 2020, twice the number of 2018′s viewed
hours.
www.cxcrux.com Page 10 Facebook
Twitch and YouTube don’t have much competition when it comes
to streaming platforms for the gaming community, but Facebook
wants to change that with a new dedicated mobile gaming app.
Facebook’s gaming app will largely curate and focus on the
streaming community, although it will also highlight casual
games that people might play online already, Facebook Gaming
is growing.
Facebook Gaming saw a 210 percent increase in hours watched
between December 2018 and December 2019, Streaming
content on Facebook saw a six percent increase in the number of
streamers, and a 78 percent increase in the average number of
viewers per hour streamed in the same time frame.
www.cxcrux.com Page 11 DISCORD
Discord is a communication platform originally designed for gaming.
Previously, getting into a voice call with other gamers was difficult.
Growing quickly, Discord raised $150 million in 2018 at a $2.05 billion
evaluation. The company has remained private, and in May 2019
announced that it had surpassed 250 million registered users. Fifty-six
million people were using the platform every month, sending an
average of 25 billion messages.
www.cxcrux.com Page 12 CONCLUSION
With continual innovation and growth, the possibilities for eSports
are endless. There is no doubt that local lockdowns across the world
increased the awareness of esports but year on year growth was
already happening. Adapting quickly and sustaining growth through
turbulent times, whether or not people are at home has been crucial
to recent months. Inevitably, at some point, there will be saturation
but there are no signs of this occurring in the near future.
www.cxcrux.com Page 13 Thanks!
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