World Rugby is the international governing body for the sport of rugby union and organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport’s most recognised and most profitable competition. World Rugby engaged Strive to evaluate relevant gaming and esports opportunities, with a view to delivering against their strategic objectives.
Esports opportunities – scope of work
- Deliver a workshop to help World Rugby understand the:
- Difference between esports and gaming
- Esports competitive landscape and wider ecosystem
- Gaming audience
- Esports audience
- Gaming revenue
- Esports revenue
- Sports commercial approach to gaming
- Sports commercial approach to esports
- Gaming’s commercial challenges
- Esports’ commercial challenges
- Global gaming trends
- Global esports trends
- Develop a clear understanding of the World Rugby’s objectives and current, and target, audiences
- Recommend if World Rugby could, and indeed should, develop an esports and/or gaming marketing strategy
Results
World Rugby developed a better understanding of potential gaming and esports opportunities. We agreed that based on their strategic objectives and priorities that a watching brief on how the industry evolved was best, rather than a strategic play.
Client comment
Strive’s intrinsic understanding and strong track record in sport, esports and gaming – and their intersection – was demonstrated in the advice we received, giving us confidence in our strategic decisions.
Looking for esports opportunities?
If you’re looking for advice from an esports or gaming agency, Strive Sponsorship can help. Contact us for sponsorship, marketing, commercial, content, media, investment, and communications consultancy services.
Frequently asked questions
Is esports growing in the UK?
It depends by which measure you’re calculating growth. Statista reports that the revenue in the UK esports market is forecast to increase between 2023 and 2027 by $21.3 million U.S. dollars (+42.49 percent). According to this forecast in 2027, the revenue will have increased for the fourth consecutive year to $71.47 million U.S. dollars.
Why are advertisers attracted to esports?
Advertisers are attracted to esports due to its growing global audience, which consists of tech-savvy and engaged young viewers that are otherwise quite hard to reach.
Is the esports business profitable?
Despite increased viewership, sponsorship value, media rights deals, and merchandise sales, that has seen the esports industry experience significant revenue growth, few esports businesses turn a profit. It is very much at an investment/growth phase, where value is still being built. We expect to see more industry aggregation before we start to see profits.
