What is Esports?

While esports may seem like a new concept, participating and watching competitive gaming has been around for decades. Thanks to the growing popularity of competitive games, the rise of streaming, and more public appeal, esports has exploded in viewership. Some incredible stats include:

• In 2019, esports had an estimated viewership of 454 million people

• 43% of esports viewers say that they always appreciate brands that reach out to them through the gaming world

• 43 million viewers tuned into the 2017 League of Legends championship, 1.5 million less than game 7 of the NBA finals that year

With esports continuing to grow, more and more brands see an opportunity to connect with users through esports. And just like the NBA, NFL, and other professional sports, there are many opportunities to connect with viewers.

Opportunities In Esports

When it comes to engaging with gamers in the world of esports, there are tons of ways to get engaged, whether your brand interacts with players and teams on social media, live-tweets events, or even streams certain esports titles like Rainbow Six Siege or Starcraft II.

But just like sports, you can get engaged with individual players from different leagues, teams, or events as a whole. Here’s a breakdown of some ways you can connect your brand with esports.

Players

Just like NFL or NBA athletes, esports athletes can be engaged individually to work with your brand. Like other sports, fans of the individual players will follow them online, watch their content, and cheer them on. Most esports athletes also have an online presence on social media platforms and streaming on Twitch, Facebooking Gaming or YouTube. A few examples of how your brand can engage with players:

• Sponsoring a player’s stream/content to include your brand

  • As players will have fans and viewers who watch their live or on-demand content, you can partner with them to include a brand plug, mention, or even feature and showcase a product. Just be sure to be open and honest with the athlete to incorporate your brand in a way that works for their personal brand.

• Engaging with players and their fans in their streams, on their content, or on social

  • When an esports athlete posts about getting ready for an event, a milestone, or a big win, your brand can organically engage with them, congratulating them, making a joke, or referencing something that happened at the event. Users may respond well to seeing a brand interact with something they love!

• Partner with a streamer for sponsored content on social media. (i.e. product highlights, service callouts, etc.)

  • esports stars are influencers too! They have followings on various platforms and can be utilized in the common influencer way of highlighting products and brands to their followers. This is also a great way of getting gaming-related content for your social channels… baring that’s in your contract.

These are just a few examples of how you could work with esports athletes; in the end, the ways you can activate are endless, just like working with an influencer or NHL star.

Teams

Just like there are leagues for various sports such as the NBA and Premier League, there are different leagues and tournaments for games. Whether it’s the Call of Duty League, The Overwatch League, or countless others, all with various teams from around the globe, some are city-based such as Toronto Ultra (Call of Duty), or some are tied to real-world sports franchises such as the NAME (NBA 2K). Here are a few ways your brand can get involved with esports teams.

• Work with the team for sponsored content on social media

  • Like with teams in other leagues, you can work with the team for sponsored content or moments. Be it a sponsored replay, content series, or even influencer-style posts with the team.

• Become a sponsor of the team, be featured on their website and jerseys

  • You see it in major sports all the time, having brands be the official product of a sports team. There’s an opportunity to do this with esports teams and have your brand associated by being on jerseys, websites, and other official material.

• Have special products tied to the team, such as items themed around the team

  • If your brand is product-focused, you can look at having special team-themed product lines or limited-time offers. People want to represent the teams they love, and esports is no different!

Every sponsorship with a team is different, just like other sports teams but being connected with a team can help connect your brand with their fans, and their success can lead to more visibility of your brand’s association. These partnerships are intricate and can take time and money but are a great way to increase an established presence in the space.

Events

Every sport has its championships, and esports… are a little different. A single game can have multiple different events hosted through an official league or by different brands. While this is different from traditional sports, there are also big-time events such as the League of Legends World Championship or the Fortnite World Cup. These big-time events can draw a lot of fans and a lot of prize money. Here are a few ways your brand can utilize these events:

• Create social content around the events, engage with players, teams, commentators

  • Every year, brands create content around the big game, and in esports, there are a few opportunities to connect with users who are watching major events. You can even engage with posts from the event, teams, or players participating.

• Work with personalities around these events, such as commentators who can be spokespeople

  • Every sports team and channel has key commentators and personalities, and so does esports. Find commentators and personalities associated with the game(s) of choice and work with them to be spokespeople for your brand in the space.

• Sponsor an event and be included within the event

  • If you have the funds for it, you can even look to sponsor an esports event. Whether it’s a major one such as the DOTA 2 World Championship, or even a minor league, open entry tournament.

While sponsoring events and being part of official converge can be costly, that isn’t the only barrier to entry. As fans are on social chatting before, during, and after the events, brands can get creative and jump into the conversation using only organic posts and responses. However, your brand would market around the Superbowl or NBA Finals can be implemented for these major events.

For some more great examples of how non-gaming brands have connected through esports, check out www.theesportsads.com.