Esports is changing. Over the past few years, the lines between esports, live streaming, and even influencer marketing have become blurred. The esports and live streaming report 2021 aims to give a reliable and realistic overview of the current status and future of the live streaming audience and esports market.

The main topics covered in Newzoo’s report include:

  1. Key global trends
  2. Special focus topics
    • China’s Live-Streaming Market
    • COVID-19’s Impact on the Esports Market
  3. Global overview
    1. Esports revenue forecast
    2. Esports revenue streams
    3. Esports audience forecast
    4. Streaming audience overview
  4. Introduction to live streaming
  5. Key influencer profiles

Key takeaways of the report are:

  1. Global esports revenues will grow to $1.084bn in 2021, a year-on-year growth of +14.5%, up from $947.1m in 2020
  2. In 2021, $833.6m in revenues—over 75% of the total market—will come from media rights and sponsorship. This will grow to $1.185bn by 2024
  3. The global games live streaming audience will hit 728.8m in 2021, growing +10% from 2020. It will grow to 920.3m by 2024, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of +9.2%
  4. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of live streaming. Growth rates are expected to progressively return to their natural growth by 2024. Growth rates will stay in the double digits for most developing economies throughout 2024: Latin America with a CAGR of +14%, the Middle East and Africa with a CAGR of +15.1%, Central Southern Asia with a CAGR of +14.8%, and Southeast Asia with a CAGR of +14.8%
  5. Spanish and Portuguese live broadcast showed the biggest growth in 2020, positioning themselves after English as the most-watched languages on live-streaming platforms. Spanish grew by +369% to reach 1.4 bn hours watched, while Portuguese grew by +189% to 1.1 bn hours watched
  6. Globally, the total esports audience will grow to 474m people in 2021, a year-on-year growth of +8.7%. Esports enthusiasts will make up 234m of this number, growing +8.7% year on year
  7. China will have the most esports enthusiasts in 2021 with 92.8m, followed by the U.S. and Brazil
  8. China will also be the largest market for games live streaming, with an audience of 193m in 2021. China is also the largest market by revenues, with total revenues of $360.1m in 2021. This is up +14% from 2020’s total of $315.1m. It is followed by North America, with total revenues of $243m, and Western Europe, with total revenues of $205.8m
  9. The global average revenue per esports enthusiast will be $4.63 this year, up +2.8% from $4.40 in 2020. It is important to note this is down from 2019’s $4.86 per esports enthusiast, but it is expected to jump up to $5.25 in 2022 after live events are restored
  10. The League of Legends World Championship was 2020’s biggest tournament by live viewership hours on Twitch and YouTube, with 91.9m hours. League of Legends Champions Korea Summer was the most-watched league by live viewership hours on Twitch and YouTube, generating 53.9m hours

Click here to download the esports and live streaming report 2021.

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