Page 19 - AeM_July_2020

RESEARCH
ANALYSIS
TRENDS

Asia leads in e-sports

According to WARC, the international marketing watched more e-sports content than before, rising to
intelligence service, e-sports penetration is one in four in South Korea (26%) and Indonesia (24%).
approaching one billion viewers worldwide, though
Western markets are lagging. More than one in four Practitioners believe advertising spend will be the key
(27%) males have watched an e-sports tournament in driver of e-sports growth in the coming years, and
the last month, equivalent to 554m people. The rate WARC forecasts investment will now top $1bn in 2022
among females is far lower at 17% (349m), placing the (compared to $844m this year). Venture capitalists are
total audience at just over 900m viewers worldwide. also expected to up investment greatly in the sign of a
maturing market, while media rights will become a key
Penetration is highest in Asia at almost one in three battleground from merger and acquisition activity over
(30%), falling to one in five (20%) in Latin America, the coming years.
14% in Europe and MEA, respectively, and 13% in
North America. Uptake is greatest among Gen Z at one Mobile: the non-gamer's gaming
in four (27%) and stands at one in five (20%) among
Millennials. Data from Limelight Networks show that A full 2.9bn people play games on their smartphone,
Gen Z gamers watch 6:19 (h:mm) of e-sports content a equivalent to seven in ten (71%) internet users. This is
week on average, over an hour longer than they spend up from 63% in 2015 - an increase of one billion people
watching traditional sporting content (5:10). worldwide in just five years. Further, 29% (1.2bn) are
mobile-only gamers, rising to one in three in Asia
New audiences have proven hard to come by as there Pacific and the Middle East and Africa. Israel (46%),
has been no direct translation among traditional Singapore (44%) and Thailand (42%) record the
sporting fans. Just 3% of adults said they started highest rates.
watching e-sports during April 2020, when many
markets were at the start of COVID-19-induced Mobile gamers skew older than the average and
lockdown. The greatest proportion of new viewers was comprise mostly of females (55% vs. 46% for all
to be found in India at 11%, per McKinsey research, gamers). They are more casual, with many not
with the US and UK each recording rates of just 1%. regarding themselves as gamers at all: in the US, three
Existing audiences instead consolidated: one in ten in four (77%) women with children that play mobile

19 July 2020: Virtual-, Augmented & Mixed Reality: revolutionizing the customer experience