Niko Partners: Asia is 54% of the $1B international esports marketplace

Asia is more than 54% of the $1 billion dollar international esports marketplace, according to marketplace researcher Niko Partners.

Asia is the world’s biggest and most critical area for esports, creating $543.8 million in revenues in the area in 2020. This is a 4.9% improve more than 2019 regardless of the challenges of COVID-19, Niko Partners stated. During 2020, esports operators had to shut down their physical events and shift to digital broadcasts of their events. Yet the Asian marketplace nonetheless managed to develop, and it remains on a robust course in 2021. Revenues for 2021 will most likely be close to $600 million, or 10.5% development more than 2020.

This excludes the income generated by games and contains the income of the sector of esports. The worth of esports licensing and media rights grew in 2020 as platforms sought content and sponsors sought options to relationships with standard sports media. Esports’ capacity to move to on the web-only play made them a well-liked option to live media events impacted by new regulations.

Making up for the loss of physical revenues such as merchandise and ticket sales, esports viewership in Asia boomed in 2020, developing to 618.4 million esports spectators in 2020. This is a 21% improve more than the 510 million Asian esports spectators in 2019.

Alexander Champlin, the director of esports analysis for Niko Partners, stated in an e mail to GamesBeat that the enterprise assumes in-particular person events will continue in China, but the rest of the area will be slower to return to esports stadiums.

“The Dota 2 One Esports Singapore Major, one of the largest in-person esports events to take place in Southeast Asia in 2021 will likely be more of a fluke than the start of a return to normal,” he stated. “However, the industry has already begun a strong pivot away from in-person events as the cornerstone of esports. Brand partnerships and streaming deals are becoming the heart of the industry in an online-only world. Most growth in 2020 came from these two sectors of the industry and we predict, even after in-person events resume, these will remain the segments that drive the market.”

Lisa Hanson, the president of Niko Partners, stated in a statement that just after a couple of complicated months throughout the pandemic, a lot of the esports sector was back on track throughout the rest of 2020. While tournaments had been no longer in particular person, sponsorship and media offers rose, and as one of the couple of live-sports industries capable to provide its item practically, esports was capable to court investors and spectators from other segments.

Niko Partners expects licensing and partnerships to be the quickest-developing components of the esports ecosystem as international viewership continues to rise.

Niko’s report covers the esports markets of China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

TJ Esports’ LPL is continuing in particular person, though they also had a COVID-19 induced false start out in Q1 and had been forced to refund tickets. Riot/Tencent esports properties League of Legends and Honor of Kings had been also two of the only significant esports events to take spot in-particular person in the second half of 2020, and some of the 1st to place in-particular person championships on the books for later this year, Champlin stated.

“China is nearly back to normal behavior regarding to conferences, crowds, and in person sporting and entertainment events, so this fits with the current state of live events,” he stated.

Regarding 2022, Champlin stated, “We think the industry will likely adopt a hybrid model moving forward. As in-person events become more feasible the balance will start to shift back in this direction. Countries that have historically benefited from esports tourism, like many in Southeast Asia, will be quicker to make this shift once live events become safe, while countries like China, Korea, Japan, and even India, with strong livestreaming ecosystems and domestic esports industries will approach this with less urgency.”

He added, “There are quite a few benefits to online-only events including simplicity, scalability, and reduced overhead costs. A growing number of online tournament platforms and increased acceptance of online tournaments among advertisers and sponsors are making the transition back to in-person less urgent than it looked in early 2020.”

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz