Research Now’s Esports: competing, levelling up & winning minds and wallets report “seeks to bring clarity and understanding to the esports phenomenon by highlighting the quantitative metrics that objectively quantify the ‘What’ in ‘what success looks like for commercially successful esports titles’. It also sheds light on the qualitative, the deep- seeded emotions, and aspirations of ‘Why’ esports gamers and fans do what they do.”

The report states “Four groups of professionals will gain the most strategic and actionable value from this study:

  • Production: Anyone who is involved in the production (with job titles such as Producer, Product Manager, etc) of esports content
  • Publishers (with job titles such as Marketing, PR, Promoter, etc.) of esports content/events
  • Brands & Marketers interested in marketing to esports gamers
  • Investors (either external private equity, hedge fund managers or venture capitalists; or Publisher-internal corporate/business development professionals) currently considering investing in, or in the midst of an active merger/acquisition of a 3rd-party game developer or publisher.”

How to get the most out of this study
The study claims to “focus on the most critical key performance indicators (KPIs) along the esports /fan consumer journey:

  • Awareness/Discovery
  • Engagement/Retention
  • Spend/Monetization
  • Advocacy

It highlights how esports game developers, publishers and marketers can use primary consumer research to strategically understand consumer behaviour and create compelling consumer experiences that maximize business success.”

Conclusion
We feel the study is pretty light on content and substantiation. For instance it’s not clear exactly how you are classified as an ‘esport gamer’, nor is it clear what geographies are being surveyed (although we suspect it is North America from some of the questions/answers).

A number of the conclusions are quite straightforward and we would recommend that this report, if used, is considered as part of a much broader look at market data and intelligence.

To download Esports: competing, levelling up & winning minds and wallets, please click here.

If you would benefit from the advice of an esports agency, Strive Sponsorship can help. Contact us for esports sponsorship, commercial, content, operations, investment and communications consultancy services.