eSports reached a total revenue of €2 billion in 2020, an increase of 116% compared to 2019. According to the report, in 2021, 35% of the European population became familiar with the concept of eSports and can already define it. it correctly, while 17% have heard of it but cannot provide a correct definition. The rest (48%) do not know the concept.
Poland, Spain and Italy are the strongholds of eSports in Europe. The first has a penetration rate of 52%, while in Spain it is 49%, and in Italy it is 48%, with around half of all consumers stating that they have watched e-sports competitions at least once on the past and about one in three consumers confirm that they consume this type of content regularly.
The most frequent consumers of eSports are Generation Y (people born between 1981 and 1996) and Generation Z (people born between 1997 and 2012). However, contrary to many assumptions, it is not the younger generation that consumes them the most, but people between 26 and 40 years of age with a higher education.
Another of the report's revelations says that 9% of consumers participated in live eSports events in 2021, 16% paid to watch them on pay television and 25% watched them for free on TV. Already 17% of the public admits that they consume eSports via streaming and 49% affirm that this is also the preferred channel to consume them.
Twitch is the leading platform in terms of streaming services, followed by YouTube and Facebook Gaming. In terms of categories, shooting eSports, also known as First/Third Person Shooters (FPS) and simulation are the most popular, followed by racing eSports. The most powerful game titles that exceed 50% audience penetration are League of Legends, Fifa and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, while those with the greatest potential are Rocket League and Valorant.
The public considers that they no longer consume eSports due to lack of time (30%) or because they have other interests (27%). There are also 20% of users who don't know where to see them, 16% who don't understand the tournament system and 12% who don't understand how the games work, suggesting that a wider audience can be reached if eSports becomes make it more accessible for newcomers.
The study also detects low monetization of the audience due to the abundant supply of relevant free content that makes it difficult to convert multimedia content into cash. Currently, the direct revenue potential of end customers is mainly limited to product sales and event tickets, while access to premium content or subscriptions remains a secondary source of revenue.
Poland and Spain are also the countries with the highest proportion of consumers who pay for content related to eSports, with 26% each. Switzerland and the Czech Republic are at the bottom of that spectrum, with a share of 10% and 12%, respectively.
On the other hand, the increased interest of eSports to the public increased was also influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, 49% said they had used them before, but 35% said they had not seen them before the pandemic. In total, the study reveals that 16% of the population only started using eSports in 2021.
Source: Jornal Económico
