Events for major eSports titles like League of Legends or DOTA 2 are on everyone’s lips. However, it’s not only the players of these titles who enjoy the huge events, but also fans who don’t even play them.
Who watches eSports events? Nearly 25% of eSports event viewers do not play the game themselves. This conclusion was reached by the analysis website Newzoo, which specializes in eSports.
This particularly applies to the title League of Legends, which this year has broken several records in viewer numbers. Thus, 26% of the viewers do not play LoL themselves, but simply watch the event. Similar trends exist for other titles:
- In CS:GO, around 23% do not play themselves but watch eSports events.
- In DOTA 2, it is even 24% who do not play themselves.
Only Overwatch from Blizzard (14%) and the mobile game Honor of Kings (Arena of Valor, also 14%) from Tencent slightly deviate from this pattern.
Where does the information come from? The analysis website Newzoo conducted a survey regarding viewer behavior for major eSports titles.
Active players in the survey are those who have played the game at least once in the last 3 months.
A total of 12 countries from North America and Europe were surveyed online, with respondents aged between 10 and 65 years. In China, where the data for Honor of Kings also applies, only users aged between 10 and 50 years were surveyed.
Fans usually watch only one game
What do the numbers show? While around 25% of viewers do not play the games themselves, they also remain loyal to their game. 71% of all surveyed watch only one of the three titles that were the focus of the survey.
Only 6% of all surveyed viewers are interested in LoL, Overwatch, and CS:GO simultaneously. The largest overlap among the fans occurs between LoL and CS:GO, with 9% consuming both titles.
eSports events as marketing: The numbers from Newzoo show that successful eSports titles also reach people who do not play the game themselves. Events like the LoL Worlds or the DOTA 2 Invitational are therefore good marketing methods.
At the same time, the fans benefit a lot from these events. They become attached to a brand and largely identify with it.
How about you? Do you watch any of the games without playing them yourself? Do you remain loyal to one game or follow multiple titles? Feel free to share in the comments!
