ESports Market Brief 2015 SuperData Research
ESports Market Brief 2015 SuperData Research
ESPORTS
THE MARKET BRIEF
2015
Executive summary
Korea and China continue to dominate $612M
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
The ongoing investment in N. America and Europe by digital-only publishers drives overall growth and audience expansion.
Europe
$72
N. America
$143
million
million
Asia
$374
million
Rest of World
$24
million
$612M
Asia still leads the global
eSports market with $374
million in annual revenues
(61%). In the coming year,
we expect to see the
fruits of the continued
investment in North
America, Western and
Eastern Europe by game
companies like Riot
Games and Wargaming.
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
Investment in innovative business models, platforms and derivative businesses further spurs growth in competitive gaming.
PUBLISHERS
TEAMS
LEAGUES
PLATFORMS
BRANDS
DESCRIPTION
EXAMPLES
The various games in which competitive gamers compete, ranging from shooters Titles: League of Legends, (Riot Games), World of
to multi-player online battle arena.
Tanks (Wargaming), SMITE (Hi-Rez Studios), Call of
Duty (Activision Blizzard), DotA 2 (Valve).
Professional teams that compete in tournaments. Members practice up to 8
hours a day and receive earnings through endorsement deals or by becoming a
professional for a particular game.
Organizers: Host both off- and online competitions, and generate revenue
through corporate sponsorship, membership fees, merchandise and ticket sales. Entertainment).
eSports Betting: Facilitate real-money betting on the outcome of eSports events. eSports betting: Alphadraft, Vulcan
Channels: Facilitate the (live) broadcast of competitions and pro-player videos.
AUDIENCE
2015E
134,287,236
eSports viewers
worldwide
The combination of competitive gamings rising popularity and recent acquisitions has triggered investments across scalable market
segments. The current market for eSports knows a wide variety of participants that each bring their own specialization. As the overall
business model begins to solidify, the market will see more vertical integration and consolidation.
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
PUBLISHERS
TEAMS
LEAGUES
PLATFORMS
BRANDS
AUDIENCE
In addition to traditional marketing efforts, organizing events and streaming content improves awareness and retention.
14%
MOBAs
16%
FirstPerson
Shooters
52%
Sports
18%
FPS and Sports games are growing as eSports thanks to Western audiences.
While real-time strategy (RTS) and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games
dominate eSports worldwide, new genres are emerging with changing demographics. In
the US, only 5% of viewers follow RTS games while more than half follow first-person
shooters (FPS). Call of Duty, which began hosting official tournaments in 2013, is
currently the most popular franchise among American eSports viewers.
9%
8%
8%
7%
6%
5%
5%
4%
3%
28%
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
PUBLISHERS
TEAMS
LEAGUES
PLATFORMS
BRANDS
AUDIENCE
Monthly active
PRIZE POOL user base at time
of tournament
2012
2013
2014
$1,600,000
$2,874,407
$10,931,103
751,758
6,218,943
9,640,848
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
PUBLISHERS
TEAMS
LEAGUES
PLATFORMS
BRANDS
While top players can earn millions in prizes, only 40% of professional players make a
living off of gaming. Since prize pools only go to a small portion of teams, most players
AUDIENCE
earn a modest salary ranging from $12,000 to $40,000 a year. Players are required to
practice eight hours a day, but can drill up to 16 hours a day before a major event. Low
salaries contribute to a high burnout rate, as many players quit to pursue other careers.
One-third of US players
consider teams the most
important factor when
deciding which eSports
matches to watch.
Veteran teams like Evil
Geniuses and Fnatic have
become recognizable
brands, offering consistency
and longevity to viewers
and sponsors alike. Most
teams are supported by a
handful of endorsements;
however, corporations like
SK Telecom and Samsung
have assembled company
teams that receive funding
from a single sponsor.
$1,194,357
$1,192,049
$1,186,074
$1,174,610
$1,146,794
$667,332
$606,839
$603,893
$586,149
$581,748
$4,189,076
$3,571,494
$3,002,033
$2,686,964
$2,615,720
$2,487,139
$2,181,955
$2,100,947
$1,931,063
$1,819,079
$5,525,714
Former professional
player Wei CaoMei
Han-Dong now earns
over $800,000 a year by
streaming.
Even as sponsorship deals
continue to grow, popular
players can earn more by
live-streaming their
gameplay. In 2014,
professional League of
Legends player Wei
CaoMei Han-Dong retired
from eSports and signed a
contract with ZhanQi TV to
stream 90 hours a month in
exchange for an annual
salary of 5 million RMB (over
$800,000 USD).
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
PUBLISHERS
TEAMS
LEAGUES
PLATFORMS
BRANDS
AUDIENCE
Apparel purchased by eSports fans in Germany, France, the UK and the US,
organized by clothing size
$42.30
The average size of a transaction
on eSports merchandise across
key Western markets breaches
$40. Loyal fans support specific
Shown: Apparel sizes for clothing purchased by eSports enthusiasts in the United States, Germany,
France and the UK in January, 2015. Total sample size n=10,076. All currencies recalculated to USD.
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
PUBLISHERS
TEAMS
LEAGUES
PLATFORMS
BRANDS
AUDIENCE
Tournament organizers, broadcasters and leagues serve as industry advocates, playing a central role in eSports popularity.
Leagues organize and host a variety of competitive gaming events both on and
offline, broadcasting tournaments via online streaming. The ESL (Europe),
Major League Gaming (N. America) and the Korean eSports Association
(South Korea) all promote and organize eSports events in return for a
share of the marketing spend by brand holders and advertisers. In
addition, league organizations also generate revenue via merchandise and
ticket sales.
$203M
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
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PUBLISHERS
TEAMS
LEAGUES
PLATFORMS
BRANDS
AUDIENCE
The introduction of live streaming has allowed the global eSports audience to expand more than eight-fold.
ESL.tv
6%
MLG.tv
7%
Dailymotion
13%
GamingLive.tv
12%
Hitbox.tv Azubu.tv
7%
9%
Ustream.tv
9%
TITLE
SMITE
League of Legends
DotA2
2.9M
20M
27M
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
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PUBLISHERS
TEAMS
LEAGUES
PLATFORMS
BRANDS
AUDIENCE
Despite strong direct consumer monetization via merchandise and events, indirect revenues account for 81% of market.
$111.1M
DIRECT (19%)
N. America
$143
million
Prize pool
contributions
$11.8
Merchandise
$11M
Ticket sales
$4.5M
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
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PUBLISHERS
TEAMS
LEAGUES
PLATFORMS
BRANDS
AUDIENCE
2015E
134
the stakes
get higher
million
2015E
$42
million
2010
2011
73K
ATTENDEES AT THE
2014 INTEL EXTREME
MASTERS FINALS
2012
2013
72%
PERCENT OF US
ESPORTS FANS WHO
ATTEND LIVE EVENTS
2014
2015E
per
year
North America and Europe are nascent but fastgrowing markets. Since 2011, eSports have
been growing in the west exponentially. In
addition to live-streaming sites and online
console devices, organizations like Major
League Gaming in the US and the Electronic
Sports League in Europe have helped provide
the necessary infrastructure for the space to
thrive.
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
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PUBLISHERS
TEAMS
LEAGUES
PLATFORMS
BRANDS
AUDIENCE
Audience profile
eSports viewer spend
by category (US)
Full games
In-game purchases
Peripheral devices
32%
$200
Monthly spend
on games and
hardware
44%
24%
87%
male
13%
female
$76k 89%
AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD
INCOME
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
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Research Associate
Stephanie Llamas
Carlos Sanmiguel
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
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Company summary
SuperData provides relevant market data and insight on digital games and
playable media. Founded by veteran games industry researchers,
SuperData covers the market for free-to-play gaming, digital console,
mobile, PC downloadable, gaming video content and eSports.
Monthly analyses and industry reports using digital point-of-sale data.
Using digital point-of-sale data received from publishers, developers and
payment service providers, we base our analyses on the monthly spending
of 37 million paying digital gamers, worldwide.
Understand what people play, connect to and spend on. Our research combines
transaction-level data with qualitative consumer insight. Our leadership
team has experience spanning across major research firms, including NPD,
Nielsen, DFC Intelligence, Comscore, Experian, Jupiter and Forrester.
A next gen approach for next gen entertainment. Our customer base includes
legacy publishers (e.g. Activision/Blizzard, Ubisoft), digital-only publishers
(e.g. Nexon, Tencent, Wargaming), media companies (e.g. Google, CocaCola) and industry service providers (e.g. PayPal, Visa, GameStop).
eSports Market Brief, May 2015 | Copyright 2015 SuperData Research. All rights reserved. | www.superdataresearch.com
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Contact
CEO
Joost van Dreunen, Ph.D.
[email protected]
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