Published on June, Xrd 2022

Esports at the forefront

In 2022, almost everyone heard or talked about esports & gaming. In fact, there are many reasons to be interested! But what are they exactly? How and why engaging your brand in this very promising ecosystem?
Here are some points to consider.

Esports: more than a hobby for 500M fans

No need to flood you with numbers and statistics in this article, just the basic ones: you have to know that video games are the biggest cultural assets in the world, outperforming cinema and music by far, with a crushing $192,7 billions (+7,6 % YoY) revenue in 2021. More than 2 Billion gamers are surveyed on earth, meaning more than a quarter of humanity plays video game regularly. That might be enough to get your interest on the market.
Among those players, may they be curious, casual gamers or only wishing to escape the reality for an instant, a few of them are fierce players willing to become progamers, and everything that is built around them is called esports. This competitive micro-ecosystem wrapped by a wider one is today's video games' media showcase. Or if we shall compare, it's what the Champion's league is compared to amateur football, or what F1 is to karting with friends.You may have understood already: Esports is the professional or semi-professional competitive practice of video game.
How did this sector generate more than a billion dollar in 2021? How dit it become "the place to be" since COVID 19? Here are the reasons.

Young & Wild & Free

Modern esports as we know it is "only" 6-7yo, at least when we talk about its professionalization, structuration and economic interest. As every "young" sector, interest, curiosity & infatuation come along, and this is precisely what built its growth, because in terms of legal, financial, educational, marketing, investment and management, every new player has a key role to play. Therefore, endemic and non-endemic brands find their interest. A brand new market to conquer with multiple opportunities and a similar goal: diversify its audiences, reach a new market (the famous "millenials" and their generations Y, Z and even Alpha), and rejuvenate its communication, while insuring a sustainable brand awareness.

Associate your name with a professional team, sponsor content on Twitch & YouTube, sign a gaming ambassador, organise or buy the name of a major event, are some of the marketing strategies that become communication & marketing habits, as an advertising page on a newspaper was back in the days. We already talked about it: esports audiences are huge, thanks to the new consumption habits of new generations, favorising the Twitch + YouTube + VOD combo over the oldy TV/Radio/newspaper one.
For a similar (or lower) budget, brands take advantage of a better engagement rate, create powerful content and evolve their brand image, broadcasted to a perfectly measured audience, and even more efficiently with the help of a dedicated agency such as ours.
Printing a logo on a team jersey isn't enough anymore, it is only the beginning of a wider collaboration with the esports players and must be followed by a more complete marketing strategy to tell a story, link your brand to competitive successes and build a fanbase around it. New levers to activate and optimize your brand image and storytelling arise, for the main purpose to reach new clients.

Conclusion

To conclude this quick "popularization" of esports and its interest for investors and advertisers, we can say that needs exist both sides of the fence: On the one side, esports teams, event organisers, proplayers, & influencers are looking for investments to consolidate their economic situation, (sometimes precarious as sponsorships is the biggest part of their financing) and develop their activity.
On the other side, brands willing to build awareness and engage new audiences, have to invest, or at least find some interest in the esports & gaming ecosystem and its multiple opportunities: gigantic reach, strong engagement rate and beloved fanbases, only to name a few.
This ecosystem has a very specific and strong culture and internal practices are often more complex to understand than they appear to the uninitiated: opt for the full support of an expert agency. You deserve the best strategy!

If you're willing to discover the esports sector more deeply and catch your own opportunity, STAKRN Agency's esports experts consultants may help you find the most fitting strategy to answer your needs. Contact us below to discuss further concrete options for your business.

To learn more about the author, read his interview by Gaming Job (French only)