Analyst: eSports Revenue to Hit $1B by 2018 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 05 October 2015 / 3,287 ViewsThe eSports market is expected to reach $1 billion in revenue by 2018 and $1.8 billion by 2020, according to Baird Equity Research Analyst Colin Sebastian.
"Importantly, we believe that our estimates could prove conservative; depending on how aggressively game developers build eSports features into popular video games," said Sebastian.
The number of people who watched eSports competitions topped 100 million last year and the figure has the potential to reach 250 million in 2018 and 350 million in 2020. Sebastian also notes that there is plenty of room for growth given that there are 1.7 billion gamers worldwide.
"While eSports viewership continues to grow at an impressive rate, we note that most eSports ventures may not yet be reaching profitability... As such, eSports is still primarily a marketing, engagement, and retention tool, helping to increase the longevity of games. Beginning next year, we expect this to change, with publishers focusing as much on incremental revenue opportunities as they do user retention," he concluded.
Thanks GamesIndustry.
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A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.