In recent years, the esports industry has seen exponential growth both in terms of popularity, as well as profits with different brands finding plenty of opportunities to reach a wide target audience. Just last year, the esports industry audience reached nearly 500,000,000 people, and this trend is going to continue increasing in the coming years. Despite the negative effect of the pandemic on the sports industry, which ended up canceling various live events, the esports space kept going through digital events.
For example, the 2020 League of Legends World Final was seen by about 4 million people around the world. In fact, this increase in popularity was so great last year that the entire industry ended up nearly reaching $1 billion in profit. The leading ruled audience in the sports industry is from the United States, however, there are plenty of fans from both Europe as well as Latin America.
Most gamers or influencers in the sports industry have a very large community centered around themselves as well as the game safely, but most importantly, those communities are filled with an engaged audience, which is beneficial for brands looking to reach people through influencer marketing.
Influencers
Because of the rules and the popularity of the esports industry, the influencers in the field have also become more popular. These are the people that have a direct influence on their audience. While most people believe that the influencers in the sports industry are simply great gamers, there are plenty of other players that might not be as good as the top ones that participate in competitions, but they are still very well positioned in their niche.
Companies that are looking to reach those target audiences either indirectly through media rights, public relations or directly through sponsorships, can work with plenty of different influencers that have a broad and engaged target audience. The majority of the target audience of these influencers is usually from the younger generations, specifically those under 35 years old.
One of the main reasons why the sports industry skyrocketed in popularity in recent years is because of streaming services such as Twitch, YouTube, and Mixer, which resulted in plenty of professional gamers getting a larger number of followers when they live stream their gameplays. With over 15 million daily active users, Twitch was created to help the esports industry as well as any type of live video game broadcast, but in recent times the platform has expanded into other categories.
Campaigns
Companies looking to work with these types of influencers in the esports industry don’t have to be a part of the industry itself to take advantage of the wide audience. The ideal way to create an influencer marketing campaign for the esports industry is to find a connection between the company’s products or services and the influencers themselves.
Brands should also be looking to find people that share their values, and have a reach to the target audience the company is looking to connect with. Brands that have worked on influencer marketing campaigns with the esports influencers have ended up sponsoring various big events or even sponsored various teams during tournaments.
