In 2020, the esports market will earn $1.1 billion even without broadcasters
Newzoo analysts have made a forecast for the global esports market for 2020-2023. According to their data, this year the segment’s revenue will exceed $1 billion for the first time.
The following figures appeared on the official website of Newzoo:
Money
- Esports revenue will reach $1.1 billion this year. This is without taking into account the revenue of online platforms from the display of esports matches. Compared to last year, the indicator will grow by 15.7% (by $ 150 million).
- The largest revenue will be generated by the Chinese esports market. It will account for 35% of global revenue.
- Sponsorship will remain the largest revenue channel. In 2020, it will bring the industry $636.9 million (against last year’s $543.5 million). The growth in annual terms will be 17.2%, and the average annual growth by 2023 will be 16.6%.
- Streaming revenue in 2020 will be $18.2 million. This is 33% more than in 2019. In 2023, revenue will amount to $31.6 million.
- Revenue from digital products will show the strongest growth — by 60.9% — in 2020. This includes exclusive game skins (for example, from Louis Vuitton, a partner of League of Legends). The digital products market will earn $21.5 million by the end of December. In the next three years, revenue from them will grow annually by an average of 72.4%.
People
- By the end of 2020, the esports audience will grow by 11.7% to 495 million people. 222.9 million are fans of esports, another 272 million are casual viewers.
- In 2023, the global audience will reach 646 million people. The average annual growth rate here is 10.4%. The shares of regular and casual viewers will remain approximately the same.
- According to Newzoo, the number of viewers of esports matches is growing largely due to emerging markets: Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. This is influenced by three factors in these regions: urbanization; the development of IT infrastructure; the rapid spread of mobile communications.
Events
Newzoo also assessed the profitability of last year’s esports tournaments.
- In 2019, 885 majors were held.
- The total revenue from tickets sold for these tournaments amounted to $56.3 million. For comparison, $54.7 million worth of tickets were purchased in 2018.
- The biggest tournament was the League of Legends World Championship. His matches were watched live on Twitch and YouTube Live for about 105.5 million hours.
- Let’s also remind that last year The International Dota 2 and Fortnite World Cup competitions brought record prize money to the champions: $34.2 million and $30 million, respectively.
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