As brands and marketers become more familiar with esports, they are less likely to be surprised by the field's fanfare and high viewership. To maintain sponsor interest, esports companies are leaning more toward soft metrics like community engagement than viewership and other traditional forms of measurement, for better or worse.
Esports companies may be struggling to turn a profit in 2024, but esports as a form of entertainment is still growing steadily. According to Stream Hatchet's annual esports viewership report, from 2022 to 2023, the number of hours of competitive gaming content watched online increased by 160 million hours. Interest in major esports events, such as February's Six Invitational, has also increased over the years, reflected in increased ticket sales and a surge in streaming numbers. But none of this growth seems to be moving the brand. We are cautious about investing marketing funds in this area.
“It's not that people have gotten smarter per se. Some may have gotten smarter, but I think they're in a position now where they actually need to interrogate this more deeply, because… It’s not a shiny new thing,” said managing director Maruf Minns. Agency Strive Sponsorship.
more than numbers
Believe it or not, marketers are no longer driven by pure esports viewership numbers, no matter how impressive they are. They are beginning to understand that the esports audience is not monolithic, but fragmented into many smaller fandoms centered around specific games, teams, and creators. High viewership does not necessarily equate to meaningful engagement with these communities.
Last month, for example, Ubisoft's Six Invitational broke viewership records, with hundreds of thousands of viewers of the event coming from official collaborative streams by individual Twitch streamers such as Nicholas “Zinji” Stewart. I watched it. With that in mind, smart marketers may find it more cost-effective to partner directly with individual creators rather than large esports leagues or teams hired to re-stream their events. I don't know.
“If we want to find an audience for Rainbow Six in North America, we can work with Jynxzi to meet them,” said Joe McMahon, associate director of gaming and esports at agency Wavemaker.
To convince brands that there is still value in working with them, esports companies are focusing less on viewership and follower numbers and instead on building strong connections with specific gaming communities. I'm leaving it there. The resulting high engagement, and the positive brand associations that come with it, are currently the most attractive and unique selling proposition for esports companies.
“My USP is how many times I’ve engaged them, where they are, who they are, how convincing they are,” said Minns, putting himself in the mindset of an esports company. . “I'm not competing on reach, I'm competing on something else. You have to tell that story, because that story will help you unlock spending. .”
One esports company that's focused on community engagement is Luminosity Gaming, which has invested thousands of dollars into its competitive Super Smash Bros. game, among other things. Community over the past year. By signing some of the game's most popular players, sponsoring official annual rankings, and hosting a series of in-person tournaments, Luminosity has effectively become one of the mainstays of this community, and now offers direct access to interested parties. Now you can sell it as an opportunity to sell. However, Luminosity representatives declined to share specific pricing for the esports inventory.
Luminosity's investment in the Smash community is already paying off. For example, the company partnered with Amazon MGM Studios in January to promote the movie “The Beekeeper” through Luminosity's in-person tournament series “Make Moves.” Community-specific activities were aired, including a video of star Josh Hutcherson playing the game. Before the finals of the tournament. At the moment, Luminosity's Twitch channel is one of his most engaged channels on the web, according to measurement platform Esports Charts.
“It's not because 'The Beekeeper' came to us and said, 'We want a Smash community.' They came to us and said, 'We want a male audience that's interested in this kind of thing. “We're looking for you,” said Amanda Rubin, vice president of brand solutions for Enthusiast Gaming, Luminosity's parent company. “So we're interpreters. Brands are like, 'We're looking for this age, this demographic, this interest group, where can we go?' And we thought, 'Okay, we have a community that really resonates, and we can do some really cool things.' ”
uncertainty of the future
As some brands become wary of spending on competitive gaming, esports companies have managed to recapture some of the magic by relying on deep engagement and strong community ties. However, while useful, this approach can pose problems for esports companies looking to scale up further and capture a larger portion of a brand's marketing budget.
Over the past few years, esports companies have marketed themselves to prospective sponsors as a marketing opportunity at the level and scale of traditional sports. In 2024, it has become clear that this is not the case, so esports organizations are pivoting to focus on community and all the soft metrics that come with it, with some success. But growing fandom has its limits, and brands looking to reach gamers at large rather than a specific gaming community may want to look beyond just esports organizations. .
“When it comes to viewership, the measure is there. And that's another partner to work with,” McMahon said.
Rooster Teeth's recent closure, announced earlier this week, is a warning to companies looking to trade on fandom engagement. Despite last year's rebrand, the venerable media company has been unable to find a buyer for its gaming and geek culture catalog, but owner Warner Bros. Discovery is still considering selling the catalog separately. ing.
Whether or not the company succeeds, Rooster Teeth's demise shows that a passionate fan base and strong community ties aren't always enough to keep a media operation afloat.
