The numbers are staggering. Over 70 million people watched eSports in 2013, as video game companies gave away over $25 million in prizes to professional gamers. According to video game research firms Newzoo and SuperData, the United States has 31.4 million eSports viewers and participants, while Western European territories account for another 16.3 million eSports enthusiasts. Half of Western European gamers aged 10 to 50 and 56 percent of American gamers in that demographic are aware of eSports. (Additional research in Turkey, Poland, China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam is currently underway, which will add more data to the global picture.)

The future of eSports looks bright. According to this new research, 40 percent of viewers can be seen as truly engaged eSports enthusiasts, participating in amateur championships and/or watching eSports content regularly. The other 60 percent has the direct potential for continued growth of the eSports market. That’s good news not only for video game makers, but also for video companies like Twitch, Azubu and Youtube, because eSports viewers spend an average of 2.2 hours per session and watch over 10 hours of eSports each month.

Large companies like Riot Games, Valve, Wargaming and Ubisoft are placing bets on the growing success of eSports worldwide

- said SuperData CEO Joost van Dreunen.

“And with the booming popularity of streaming services like Twitch.tv and MLG.tv, it is becoming easier than ever for gamers to connect with other players and form communities that culminate in competitive gaming.”

© Activision
So who’s playing? Males aged 21-35 make up the majority of eSports enthusiasts in the US (43 percent) and Western Europe (45 percent). Breaking the gamer stereotypes, these enthusiasts are more likely than the average gamer to be married, 52 percent versus 39 percent, and have a full-time job, 71 percent versus 50 percent. ESports enthusiasts also put their money where their interests are. They carry the biggest game wallets with 22 percent of them being big spenders, compared to 8 percent for all gamers.

“There is a very high correlation between big spenders and people that watch or participate in eSports,” said Peter Warman, CEO of Newzoo. “Only 5 percent of all eSports enthusiasts never spend money on games, compared to 32 percent for all gamers. One in five of gamers in the U.S. that can be considered ‘big spenders’ on games – spending more than $20 per month – watches eSports regularly, or participates. If you also take gamers into account that only watch eSports occasionally, this goes up to 41 percent of any American gamer. It illustrates the effective marketing potential of eSports.”

When it comes to the top eSports games in the world today, the top five are clearly StarCraft, Call of Duty, League of Legends, World of Tanks and Dota 2. According to Warman, the most popular eSports franchise in the US and Western Europe together is Call of Duty with 44 percent, followed by League of Legends (42 percent), World of Tanks (17 percent), StarCraft 2 (13 percent) and Dota 2 (7 percent).

“However, when zooming in on active eSports participants, the ranking changes and the popularity of true eSports titles rise,” said Warman. “Call of Duty is still on top, being played by 56 percent of active eSports participants. The other franchises also score significantly higher than among viewers only: StarCraft (49 percent), World of Tanks (45 percent), League of Legends (42 percent) and Dota 2 (33 percent). Clearly, the differences in popularity are a lot smaller now, illustrating the competitiveness among these five key titles. It also shows that eSports enthusiasts play more than one game.”



In fact, the highest crossover gameplay among eSports enthusiasts occurs between World of Tanks and Call of Duty as 67 percent of World of Tanks eSports enthusiasts also play Call of Duty. Warman believes this year will see an epic battle between Dota 2 and League of Legends. Currently 40 percent of League of Legends eSports enthusiasts also play Dota 2 and 66 percent of Dota 2 players also play League of Legends.

The professional eSports leagues and championships that now occur on a more regular basis are a very small tip of a growing iceberg. Wargaming, who will spend over $10 million this year on eSports activities, recently welcomed 41,000 team registrations for their World Championship in Poland. That is over 200,000 gamers. Below that tier are the gamers that only compete for fun, or spend significant time watching others play their favorite game.

The broader definition of eSports includes any game that is competitive, and for which competitions are facilitated by its makers
- said Warman.

“Watching live video streams of others compete, facilitated by Twitch, YouTube or Azubu, is a key part of this trend of broadening the user group and exponentially growing the time spent on game franchises in general. ESports is also seriously eating away at TV time. In this broader definition, every gamer and any game could be part of the ‘eSports’ phenomenon. Most games are free-to-play nowadays, offering a further incentive for game developers and publishers to apply these successful elements to their game as a marketing and indirect game monetization instrument.”

This year is shaping up to be another one for the eSports record books and there’s no end in sight for the growth of professional gaming worldwide. In fact, there are more new games entering the fray. And given the huge – and growing – audience, Warman believes there’s room for more games to succeed in eSports.