Member Insights: Is Esports Really That Different? How Brands Can Learn About The World Of Esports

With Esports continuing to take a charge in recent months and the ever-increasing popularity allowing more and more brands the opportunity to get involved with Esports sponsorship, Connexi founder Rory Stewart-Richardson delves deeper with some special industry insights.

Two questions I have been thinking as Connexi builds our Esports offering by partnering with the British Esports Association and that is:

How different is Esports really to traditional sports?

One article in the Esports Observer laid it out very simply…

In Esports you have the following: teams, games, leagues/tournaments, platforms and fans.

By my reckoning this is not too dissimilar to traditional sports, where there is: teams, sports, leagues/tournaments, broadcasters and, once again, the fan.

“If you are in, you are in for 2-3 years otherwise those loyal audiences are left thinking ‘what is wrong with us!’”

Perry Smith,Right Formula’s Business Director of Esports, says: “When you get to the point of activating make sure you are being innovative, inclusive and effectively, just adapt to the market and adapt to how your brand changes as well.

“Just because as a brand you might have a strong heritage or history in other sporting sponsorships doesn’t necessarily mean that the activations that you have achieved in those partnerships are going to be relevant to the esports market, because of how diverse and different the market is.”

Do brands know what they are investing in?

For me this is the most crucial element and an area we have taken steps in to help Brands understand this more. Do Brands see people that play Esports as a stereotypical ‘gamer’? Do they know the true value an Esports fan can bring to their brand? 

“Once you understand the community, you get loyalty… Brands that have dipped in for one season and then left have almost created a negative community for them, so if you are in, you are in for 2-3 years otherwise those loyal audiences are left thinking ‘what is wrong with us!’”, commented Chester King, Chairman of British Esports Association. 

Similar to the world of influencers, authenticity is key – the gaming audience are incredibly loyal and engaged and, if done well, a brand partnership with the right asset can be extremely beneficial.

“Across the year we receive over 1 billion eyeballs. You can reach these audiences through different advertising means, such as a Facebook ad or the cinema, but this is their passion point.”

According to Leo Matlock, Commercial Director of Blast: “Across the year we receive over 1 billion eyeballs. You can reach these audiences through different advertising means, such as a Facebook ad or the cinema, but this is their passion point.

“For millions of people, this is where they choose to spend their time and what they are about. What I would advise any brand is to find a rights holder, who has access and a relationship to their audiences.”

Understanding who the audience is is vital – with Esports being a digital asset, the levels of audience data are way easier to collect and track. Second to that gaining consumer behaviour insight has also proved the stereotypical gamer not to be the case when it comes to fans of esports. 

Dave Martin, Co-Owner of Esports team London Royal Ravens, added: “As a Call of Duty team co-owner, in the UK there are 2.5 million Call of Duty players, 3 in every 4 are male, the average age is 26 and they have an average household income of twice the national average – our audience have money and they have their own mind.”

Earlier this month, Connexi led the charge on educating brands by running bespoke webinars for selected brands to educate them on the value of Esports. Working with partners and experts it delivered a bespoke data driven synopsis for each brand to support the points made by our panel of experts. Connexi will be running their next bespoke event in August, any brands interest can get in touch with Rory@Connexi.co