Newzoo predicts brands will spend $325m on esports in 2016

The latest esports focused report by Newzoo states that brands will spend a considerable $325m (£225.9m) across the industry in 2016.

This means that the industry as a whole will receive over 70% of total revenue from brands and sponsors this year. This is a sizable increase of 49% growth on last year’s figures which goes some way in showing why it continues to be a marketing buzzword.

The report also estimates that over half of esports enthusiasts globally are between the ages of 21 and 35, whilst 31% of US esports enthusiasts have a budget of over $600 (£417) for gaming hardware.

This last nugget of information is sure to be of interest to hardware suppliers and developers targeting these demographics such as ASUS.

Peter Warman, Newzoo CEO, said this: “The explosive growth of esports and the ongoing convergence of games and video provides the biggest opportunity for the games industry since the launch of the iPhone back in 2007.”

He continued: “Supercell’s Clash Royale, the announcement of Rocket League esports and the $1 billion investment into Chinese streaming platform Douyu are some recent examples that confirm this.”

Integrally an increasing number of non endemic companies have been dipping their toes into the esports water over the past year, and this looks set to increase with the launch of Yahoo and ESPN in this sector ensuring that its mainstream attention and appeal will increase. The Newzoo report notes that Yahoo’s entrance and strategy in esports is clearly aimed at targeting the millenials.

The likes of Coca Cola, Red Bull, Intel and HTC have been heavily involved in the scene for some time but more are expected to make the move sooner rather than later.

Heinrich Zetlmayer, Managing Director of Turtle Entertainment/ESL said: “2016 will see an accelerated growth of non-endemic consumer brands’ engagement in esports.”

The full Newzoo report can be found at the site by clicking here.