eSports: A gold mine of marketing opportunities

The rise of eSports

It’s probably every PC gamer’s dream: Playing games and earning wads of cash through it.To those labeled computer geeks who spent all their time playing games, the eSports industry isn’t one to underestimate. It’s an industry whose revenue has grown from $130 million in 2012 to $465 million in 2017. This industry is expected to be worth almost $1.5 billion by 2020.
Competitive gaming is disrupting entertainment as we know it. Even sports networks like ESPN and Fox Sports have jumped on the bandwagon too. Even the BBC, not wanting to be left behind, has put their fingers in the eSports broadcasting pie. Hence as a marketer, it would be absolutely ludicrous not to embrace it.

Think Netflix is what everyone’s watching? Think again. According to one study, more unique viewers watched “Gaming video content” than HBO, Netflix, ESPN and Hulu combined in 2017.
How does the esports economy work? The esports ecosystem consists of six major actors: game publishers, teams, players, fans, sponsors and investors. Players become professional when they join teams and play in tournaments organized by game publishers or third parties. These events, both offline and online, attract brand sponsors.
While professional players can earn team salaries and tournament cash prizes, streaming is where most of the action happens for advertisers and consumers. Platforms such as Twitch (pic below) and YouTube Gaming allow players (professional and amateur alike) to broadcast their gameplay online 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Fans flock to these live streaming sites where they can watch their favorite streamer, learn strategy and be entertained.

Good news to marketers out there! esports and advertising go hand in hand: In 2016, more than 80% of esports global revenue was attributed to sponsorships and advertising. Just like in other sports, the common sponsorship strategies include event/team co-branding, product placement, logo display and special ops.
With tournaments held across the world, there are immense sponsorship opportunities. Brands like Coca-Cola, Intel, Red Bull, and Samsung have already jumped in. Coca-Cola has been a League of Legends sponsor for the last few years. It even has a Twitter account, @CokeeSports, with 360,000 followers, its second biggest account after @cocacola. The 2017 edition of League of Legends a variety of major sponsors, from Mercedes Benz to L’Oreal and Logitech. Acer was the official sponsor and partner.

Kitamen chief executive officer Hazman Hassan notes that Malaysia is currently ranked 21 in global game revenue, which was estimated at US$587mil (RM2.297mil) for 2017. It is estimated that there were 2.4 million eSports enthusiasts in Malaysia last year according to a report in The Star.

Is the Customer at the heart of your Digital Transformation?
On 19th of July, MARKETING will be organising a conference on Customer-Centric Digital Transformation (#DTCX2018) to help you answer that question. The conference will be driven by Paul Stewart who authored the best-seller ‘Branded Customer Service’ and currently is the Special Advisor, Strategy & Transformation for  P. S. Thinking. Drawing from his 25 years of diverse experience as a Chief Economist, CEO and consulting in organisational change, transformation and innovation Paul will be sharing his learnings and current trends in this realm.
He will be joined by key thought leaders in the areas of transformation, data analytics, customer service, branding, marketing, digital, human resources and more! Some of the key names who will be joining us include:

* Imran Kunalan Abdullah, Advisor/Principal Consultant – Digital Talent Development & Leadership and People Analytics
* George Aveling, CEO, TMI Malaysia
* Laurence Smith, Head, Asia Region, SmartUP
* Falko Leonhardt, Principal Consultant Transformation Strategy and Change, TMI
* Mohd Adam Wee Abdullah, Group CMO & Chief Customer Experience Officer, CIMB Group
* Rene Werner, Chief Customer Service & Customer Experience Officer, Celcom Axiata Berhad
* Noelle Lim, Director, BFM Edge Education
* Vigneswaran Sivalingam, Director of Operations, Teledirect of Telecommerce
Get ready to be inspired by case studies on transformation, honest conversations on driving change and actionable insights you can take back to implement in your organisation.
Date: 19th July 2018
Time: 8.30 am -6.00 pm
Venue: Sime Darby Convention Center, Bukit Kiara
For more information on DTCX 2018:
Click to visit DTCXJuly19 Microsite.
Download PDF Programme here.
Contact Amira [email protected] | 03 7726 2588
Book your spot early to avoid disappointment!