What is eSports and why should you care?

I am a nerd. Luckily, that’s not a bad word anymore.

It means I can proudly talk about the late-night Warcraft LAN sessions I shared with my brother in the early 2000’s. We used to pwn noobs by using our home phone intercoms to voice chat (this was well before software like Ventrillo and Discord, obviously). If that sounds like a bunch-o-gibberish, don’t worry. This nerd here is going to introduce you to the world of eSports by comparing it to the normy sports you’re more familiar with.

But why should marketers care about eSports? Because of advertising, of course

With the help of the pandemic, video game spending totalled a record-breaking $10.5 billion US in April 2020. In a 2020 eMarketer report, 26% of those surveyed spent their pandemic time playing more video games, with 4% increasing their involvement with eSports. As we’ve already noted with in-game advertising, it’s time for marketers to buy into video games as eSports becomes a major player in the media landscape.

An intro to eSports

While the industry is at the stage of a teenager trying to figure their life out, I’m excited to see where it’s headed. Post-secondary institutions are starting to offer courses tied to the new jobs eSports is creating. Companies like Coca-Cola are creating social media profiles exclusively for eSports. Right now, it’s a place where the entrepreneurial spirit is welcomed and rewarded.

As marketers, we constantly battle to keep on top of the changing landscape. eSports will play a key role in the years to come, mark my words.

If you have any questions or want to join up in a game sometime, let me know! This is pretty much what my life looks like outside of Stryve: