Audience figures for Counter Strike and League of Legends tournaments increasingly attract more sponsors
Esports, the competitive form of video games, with professional players forming teams to win the title of the corresponding tournament, have become a market to take into account. With revenues that exceed 1,000 million a year worldwide, a large part of these financial income corresponds to advertising and sponsorships. Brands, in most cases related to technology, know that they have an unbeatable showcase in these tournaments. These events usually revolve around a title, where the best compete; among the most famous are that of League of Legends (LOL Worlds), the one from Dota 2 (The International) or that of Counter Strike: Global Offensive (PGL Major), to name a few.
If these brands are betting heavily on this sector and on the events it celebrates, it is because they are aware of two very important factors: on the one hand, the incredible audience it generates: it is estimated that we could be talking about 500 million viewers today , but with a sustainable growth that would allow us to speak of 650 million in a couple of years. On the other hand, we have the “target”: the profile of the viewer is very appetizing for companies, since we are talking about a young man between 18 and 35 years old, who will gain purchasing potential and will have a good “Engagement” to brand messages.
To be specific, we can talk about two powerful examples seen recently. League of Legends It is one of the video games with the most pull. The one that most, for many, with forgiveness of Fortnite or Minecraft. His follow-up is spectacular. And the world tournament that was held recently, in October, with its final on November 6, is still a striking paradigm of such expectation: the aforementioned final was followed by more than 4 million viewers; to be exact, by 4,018,728 people. Something that should not surprise us if we think that the LOL Worlds 2019 already achieved, in one of its semifinals, 3,985,787 followers. And this edition, in one of its clashes, had already been on the verge of overcoming it, with almost 3.9 million. On this occasion, the feat was reached in the final, as we have explained.
It is clear that League of Legends sweeps in terms of follow-up, but the Shooter par excellence for PC, Counter Strike, is not far behind. The PGL Major Stockholm 2021 has smashed the records of the previous tournaments, reaching 2.5 million simultaneous viewers in its final between Natus Vincere and G2 Esports, according to publishes the Xataka portal, which almost doubles the figures of its previous edition. This is not the only indicator of the interest of the fans, the repercussion of the tournament has also been seen in the betting of specific sections on CS: GO and in visits to specialized streamers on networks such as Twitch.
The market continues to grow
What seems clear is that the phenomenon is somewhat beyond its best moment: everything seems to indicate that the figures will not stop growing in the near future. The titles that attract more audiences may change, but eSports are here to stay. Aware of this, brands are increasingly focusing on this market niche. Some already have it as the majority showcase, others are diversifying after focusing, for years, on traditional sports. Although these sports have had the invaluable assistance of the written and digital press, eSports are supported by a continuous trickle of publications on social networks; especially those more graphic, such as with Twitch, a platform specialized in live broadcasts. Twitch has grown exponentially in recent years, despite having more and more potential competitors, due to the push of video games and eSports; But the relationship has a symbiotic nature, since this market also receives feedback from the content it publishes, by carrying out an inestimable promotion of the titles and their corresponding tournaments.
The promotion continues on the network. But tournament organizers have a great job ahead of them; Based on the results, they will have to study the market well to make the most of this audience data and be able to obtain a profit that helps them to have more muscle compared to their competitors. The audience is a precious commodity, and everyone wants as much of the pie they can get.