While the technological and narrative possibilities have exploded in the past years, the picture of the user of these mediums has stayed equally throughout the years: early 20s, single, male and not that active when it comes down to physical activity.
While the prejudices about the age and the gender might be true, it is almost unfair to not use the term “athlete” when talking about the best gamers on this planet.
Prof. Dr. Ingo Froböse, Professor of the German college for physical education is trying to clear all the prejudices about eSports and their athletes: “If you take a look at the mental and cognitive requirements like reaction, anticipation and tactics, one can see some parallels to some “real” sports out there.
And this sport of professional gaming is turning into an attractive market for potential sponsors right in front of our eyes: There are close to 345 Million eSports-fans around the world. They have a higher average household income than most people, which became noticeable when eSports had a revenue of 463 Million US-Dollars in 2015. The total revenue is going to increase to 1 Billion Dollars by the end of 2019.
eSports has reached the big stage over the last few years: The Lanxess-Arena with a capacity of approx. 18.000 was sold out for three straight nights during the summer of 2016. Those final-tournaments are called “ESL-One” and attract the masses like very few other events do. If you can’t be there, just watch it via a stream! 20 Million people did just that during the DOTA2-Finals last summer.
85% of all eSports-Fans are also following ‘real’ sports on TV. Fans of an eSports-Team could turn into fans of the (possible) team owning the gaming-squad as well. A lot of professional clubs saw that potential and have started a buying frenzy! FC Schalke 04 started the movement in Germany by acquiring a “League of Legends”-squad. VFL Wolfsburg followed suit, and signed two professional FIFA-players. David “Davebtw” Bytheway and Benedikt “SALZ0R” Saltzer are wearing Wolfsburg’s jersey during every public appearance and are representing the club on a whole new level. The borders betwwen virtual and physical soccer are blurring from day to day.
The following clubs are also investing in eSports (selection):
- Paris Saint-Germain
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Manchester City
- West Ham United
- FC Valencia
Global companies like Euronics and Planetkey.de are also operating their own teams to boost their brand nationally and internationally.
Because your friends at Sponsoo love to play a good video game every once in a while, so we truly hope that we were able to get any prejudices out of the way. :)
If you are interested in using one of our gamers or clans for your marketing-mix, please contact us via support@sponsoo.de or click through our database. We would be more than happy to help you with your selection.
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