Newzoo’s annual Global Esports Market Report 2020 aims to give a reliable and realistic overview of the current status and future of the esports market.  The full report (rather than this light version) delves even deeper and features key insights into five different regions and an additional eight submarkets, as well as our latest forecast scenarios for the esports audience and its economy. The full report also discusses the explosion of mobile esports, the state of collegiate, the latest developments from Japan.

The light Global Esports Market Report 2020 covers the following topics:

  1. Key global trends
  2. Global esports overview
    1. Audience size
    2. Audience growth forecast
    3. Esports global revenue forecast
    4. Esports main revenue streams and 2020 forecast
  3. Rankings
    1. Most watched games titles
    2. Most watched esports games titles

Key takeaways from the light Global Esports Market Report 2020 include:

  1. Global esports revenues will grow to $1.1 billion in 2020, a year-on-year growth of +15.7%, up from $950.6 million in 2019
  2. In 2020, $822.4 million in revenues—or three-quarters of the total market—will come from media rights and sponsorship. This will increase to $1.2 billion by 2023, making up 76% of total esports revenues
  3. Globally, the total esports audience will grow to 495.0 million people in 2020, a year on- year growth of +11.7%. Esports Enthusiasts will make up 222.9 million of this number, growing +10.8% year on year
  4. China is the largest market by revenues, with total revenues of $385.1 million in 2020. This is up +18.0% from 2019’s total of $326.2 million. It is followed by North America, with total revenues of $252.8 million, and Western Europe, with total revenues of $201.2 million
  5. The global average revenue per Esports Enthusiast will be $4.94 this year, up +2.8% from $4.80 in 2019
  6. In 2019, there were 885 major events. Together, they generated $56.3 million in ticket revenues, up from $54.7 million in 2018
  7. Total prize money in 2019 reached $167.4 million, a slight increase from 2018’s $150.8 million
  8. The League of Legends World Championship was 2019’s biggest tournament by live viewership hours on Twitch and YouTube, with 105.5 million hours. The Overwatch League was the most-watched league by live viewership hours on Twitch and YouTube, generating 104.1 million hours.

The report clearly demonstrates that the esports market is maturing in entirely new ways, with innovative revenue streams starting to develop, such as streaming and digital goods. These are new ways to monetise not yet seen in traditional sports and have become pioneering ways for esports teams, organisers, and publishers to grow their businesses.

As the esports business has evolved, individual geographical markets have followed different trajectories, each taking its own form and flavour. Different platforms, games, and market conditions create unique individual markets. Needless to say, it’s important for anyone who wants to operate effectively in esports to understand these differences and not take a one size fits all approach to a market whose complexity is growing.

To download the Global Esports Market Report 2020, please click here.

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