How Blue Chip Brands can sponsor eSports Games, Events and Streams

Most CEO’s and Brand Managers know they need to get involved with the world of eSports but it’s a question of how to spend money wisely and not get eaten for lunch. There are a few brands that have grown up with the eSports industry they’ve learnt the hard way and have paved the way for new entrants to engage in the eSports ecosystem from some of the most loyal customers you could imagine

But for the new entrant or the established brand how do they maximise their ROI?

We’ll explore some of the options available but let’s get a few facts first about the eSports industry first.

eSports is exploding in popularity

You may not have heard of Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins he’s a Streamer...he plays the popular video game Fortnite and has access to 12 million followers and has more social media Interactions than worldwide soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. Ninja holds the record for most concurrent viewers on the Amazon-owned streaming site Twitch (667,000) when he played Fortnite with the rapper Drake. Techcrunch estimated Ninja's 2018 earnings at close to $10million.

The Target Demographic

While the majority of gamers are in that hard to reach 18-30 millennial age group there are significant amounts of older gamers playing and the Interpret research organisation estimates the eSports audience is 30% female. The ability to engage with the 18-30 age range for some brands is a very exciting proposition when you consider the lifetime value of a customer. Imagine the success of Gillette's campaign where they offered individual 3-D printed designed signature razor handles… talk about getting them young...

Social Side of gaming and e-sports

Just like men and women will enjoy a kick around playing 5-a side football and then watch a game on TV and then pay to watch their team in a live event. The same holds true for gaming, with one exception. More gamers will actively be playing regularly with their friends as well as watching. Watching eSports is a more interactive process with fans being able to communicate with the gamer while they are playing.

Sponsorship Options for Brands

There are a number of ways that Brands can get involved in the eSports market place.

Team Sponsorship - emerging team v established

eSports teams are on the rise just like we have major international soccer (Manchester United, Barcelona), basketball (LA Lakers, Orlando Magic) and American Football (New York Giants, Denver Broncos). Global e-sports teams are forming and competing. Watch the Netflix documentary Amazing League to follow 4 teams as they compete for the League Of Legends Championship to get an idea of how big eSports is already, you’ll see Monster Drinks advertised on the sleeves of Team Liquid.

Sponsoring an emerging team early and growing with them could be a great long term opportunity, you’ll need to understand the market place before you get involved though.

Sponsoring an established team will require more resources but you’ll have more an idea of what you are getting. I would suggest that Team Sponsorship is a more advanced option once you have some experience in the market.

Sponsor Individual Games

The individual games that are being played by gamers are distinct entities. Just like someone will like playing rugby or practising karate, gamers tend to focus on a particular game or maybe 2. A brand will want to check the demographics of the players of the individual games. Some games have been designed with the opportunity for product placement within the game and this will be seen more.

Sponsor Tournaments

Dextero.com reported that Epic Games the owners of the blockbuster game Fortnite were looking at up to $25 million to be a headline sponsor of the Fortnite World Cup. Holy Shit.... there is $3million up for grabs for the overall winner of the Fortnite World Cup.

The prize money for eSports events compares well to the highest earning traditional sports, the winners of the US Open Tennis ($3.8 Million USD) and US Open Golf ($2.16 million). Fortnite World Cup is the pinnacle of eSports in 2019 and there are smaller tournaments that a brand can cut its teeth on, however, the barriers to entry can be high.

Sponsor Individual Streamers

This area is becoming blurred as many streamers are also signed up to play for teams who may have a rival sponsor already in place (image rights), this is creating an opportunity for eSports agents to get involved in the industry. Must be time for a remake of the movie Jerry Maguire with Tom Cruise… show me the money.

For a brand to sponsor an athlete or streamer due diligence is required in terms of what they are like as a person as well as the game they are playing. It helps massively if a streamer is a fan of your product already to ensure that they are legit and not just using it for the $$$ esports fans won’t stand for that shit..

Advice to brands is to make sure you are monitoring who is mentioning your brand across the 3 streaming platforms, Twitch, Youtube Gaming and Facebook and get in contact with those that are. On the Business of e-sports podcast the CEO of GFuel CEO Cliff Morgan discusses numerous successful strategies that he has employed in the eSports

It can be a bit of a risk for a brand to put their eggs in the baskets of a handful of streamers and the industry is moving so fast you want to get an idea of which streamers have the best engagement with their fans.eSports influencers and gamers also always have a presence on the more traditional social media channels like Instagram, YouTube and Twitter so there’s the possibility of product placement and endorsement type posts as well and cross over marketing.

However, advertising directly In Stream allows scope for more dynamic campaigns.

INSTREAM Advertising

Advertising platforms are now being created that allow brands to create advertising campaigns that can be displayed DIRECTLY in the STREAM. Short videos or Gifs can be displayed with simultaneous messages in the CHAT BOX with a direct CALL TO ACTION. Like old school direct marketing advertisers want to know where the traffic is coming from and what the conversion rates are. 

Sponsoring Micro Influencers. While it could be amazing to place ads in the Twitch Stream of a celebrity like Ninja, when you are paying for views you may get a better ROI by targeting the streams of Micro-Influencers who may have a highly responsive following of a 1000 viewers. Advertising InStream can allow you to do this.

There are numerous novel ways that brands can make their advertising Interactive so that they get a significant ROI.

InStream advertising services allows brands to test which Streamers have the best engagement, track engagement between different games, target different Geographical Areas and different times of day. This information is VITAL to know before making the bigger investments of sponsoring a Team or Event if they feel that is necessary.

However brands decide to get involved in the world of eSports, it’s a Golden Age to get involved now and carve out a place in the market as it’s only going to get more expensive as the popularity of eSports continues to grow

Gavin Allinson is a Nutrition and Lifestyle Brands - eSports Advertising and Marketing Consultant at Mind-Future World and is working with a new platform that delivers targeted Instream Advertising for brands that are already in the e-Sports world and those looking to enter.