In this, our penultimate article on esports, we see how brands from all sectors but especially tech and automotive, are becoming much more involved in esports. Even shifting whole budgets away from ‘traditional sports’ into competitive gaming.
Endemic – or native – gaming brands such as Logitech are key to the esports sponsorship landscape. Estimates put it at around 35% the portion of the sponsorship landscape from these brands.
Unsurprisingly, esports has also been attractive to many non-endemic sectors including technology companies, with around 10% of sponsorship provided by companies such as SAP, Intel, Microsoft and Samsung. Tech companies are an obvious fit as they produce gaming products and mobile phones. They are also very stats heavy and purely online.
This leaves just over 50% of the esports sponsorship market split across different sectors such as Retail, Financial Services and Automotive. The likes of Mercedes, Toyota, Nissan, Shell, Red Bull, Monster Energy, PayPal, VISA and Mastercard have already made their move on this exciting industry.
These are the early movers and more deals are being announced by the day. The Esports Observer reported that in Q1 this year there were 76 non-endemic deals completed, a 95% year-on-year increase. These came from global brands including AT&T, Coca-Cola, Honda, State Farm and Nissan as automotive brands especially are becoming more involved than ever.
As the year moves on it is only natural that more deals will follow. Some will be memorable and long lasting, others on a shorter-term testing basis. Many of the major brands who are involved in esports are known for being very innovative in their marketing activities but we can also see follower brands getting involved. This can only be a strong indicator that the future of brand sponsorship in esports is a strong one.
In our final article we’ll be summing up the main considerations when it you’re thinking about an esports sponsorship.
To read the rest of the series you can head to https://sqn.agency/sponsorship/
