Esports Marketing Strategies and Opportunities for Growth

Esports is the world of competitive video games, where the most talented players in each game compete against each other to prove who is the best. 

Esports as an industry has boomed and significantly grown in size in the last 10 years thanks to the rise in popularity of social media and streaming websites – like Twitch – that allowed the highest level of gameplay to be broadcast to millions worldwide. 

The rise of YouTube and Twitch gave a platform for the best players to showcase their gaming skills to more people than ever before and therefore increased the excitement to see the best players compete against each other in official tournaments significantly.

The industry is now extremely popular with the global esports audience estimated to be around 540 million people as of 2023. This popularity has led to several hundred million dollars worth of prize pool handed out to the participant teams and individuals of the biggest esports tournaments every year. 

The target market for esports marketing is both casual gamers and aspiring pros who both want to see how the best of the best play their favourite video games.

TOP TIPS FOR ESPORTS MARKETING STRATEGIES

Find your target audience

Esports marketing strategies are dependent on the audience of any specific video game you want to tap into. Video games and popular esports titles can be divided into several categories, which include FPS (First-Person Shooter), RTS (Real-Time Strategy) and MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena).

So making sure you create esports marketing strategies that appeal to your specific gaming genre can help boost awareness for your brand. As an industry the majority of viewers fit into the 18-35 demographic and despite being male dominated, there is a significant amount of female esports viewers making up around 30% of esports fans.

Utilise social media for community interaction

Having your brand constantly active on social media and interacting with upcoming esports events can be a great way to integrate your brand authentically into a gaming community. Twitter and Instagram are great platforms to have your brand interact with the gaming community.

Utilise esports professionals

Creating an esports marketing campaign that includes people like Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther, Tyson ‘Tenz’ Ngo and Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac are all players that are among the most renowned in their respective esports titles from League of Legends to VALORANT and Counter Strike: Global Offensive, is a good way to promote your brand. Collaborating with these esports professionals to promote your brand can allow you to tap into a dedicated esports audience.

Sponsor an esports team

Sponsoring an established and popular esports team can be a more cost efficient way to promote your brand to an esports audience. For example Lenovo Legion are partnered with G2 Esports and Team Heretics, 2 of the largest esports brands, allowing your brand to tap into their loyal audiences in an authentic way.

Invest in esports advertisements

Investing in advertisements during esports events can be a great esports marketing strategy that allows you to run a video advertisement during a major esports tournament on their broadcasts that are predominantly found on YouTube or Twitch. This can give exposure to a wide range of potential consumers and put your brand at the forefront of conversation by an esports audience. Partnering with esports events through either naming rights to a tournament, sponsored segments such as a sponsored interview or post match breakdown by the analyst team on the broadcast can be another great way to put your brand at the front of some of the most discussed tournaments within gaming.

NOTABLE ESPORTS MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

100 Thieves x Attack on Titan

100 Thieves have been known for their various collaborations with Anime brands and have constantly pioneered the industry in terms of groundbreaking esports marketing campaigns, however their Attack on Titan collaboration was particularly impressive. 

With an impressive announcement video and even a design change for their compound in Los Angeles to celebrate the collaboration with references and characters for the show being found on their compound building.

G2 X Ralph Lauren

G2 Esports have done campaigns with a number of different brands and have an esports marketing strategy of working alongside established mainstream brands that gives beneficial exposure to new audiences for both brands. 

One of the most eye-catching esports marketing campaigns was their partnership with Ralph Lauren. Creating a unique crest for the collaboration alongside an impressive announcement video featuring players from their various esports teams in a short animated video with the new apparel.

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@ Socially Powerful

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