eSports Forecast: A $1.9B Industry By 2018

Connecting brands with the fastest growing sports audience in history.The eSports market, now dominated by Asia and worth $748.8M, will grow to over $1.9 billion by 2018, according to SuperData. And they predict that the growth will be driven by the U.S. and European markets, which now lag behind Asia, where the whole eSports phenomenon started in Korea.Sponsorships and advertising have generated 78% of revenue, followed by Fantasy eSports and eSports betting industries and prize pools. Amateur and microtournaments generate 4%, followed by merchandise (2%) and tournament ticket sales (2%).“While there are still a number of brands that are slow to catch on, those brands and advertisers that would benefit from sponsoring eSports will start to trickle into the market and that will generate money," says Stephanie Llamas, director of research and consumer insights at SuperData.Visibility on traditional television is helping eSports to go mainstream, with a TBS eSports TV deal and ESPN’s eSports coverge of the X Games and The International. SuperData predicts that more than 188M viewers will tune into eSports this year. And as in traditional sports, eSports players and teams like Dota 2 League Evil Geniuses, will turn into celebrities.SuperData forecasts eSports viewership will exceed 188 million this year, turning pro players and pro teams into celebritiesLlamas says more than a third of American eSports fans choose which tournaments to watch based on whether their favorite teams or players are competing. eSports updates daily – Download n2 now on the app store.