The cybersports industry has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, both in terms of viewers and in terms of revenues. Nowadays, a lot of excitement surrounds sport too.
As major sports and cyber sporting activities keep reporting steady viewership growth in 2021, accurate figures are getting more and more important to donors and the news media. Beyond that, there are many bookmakers, such as VulkanBet, that take bets on all sports. So which is the most popular?
What affects audiences
Demographic changes and regional characteristics need to be taken into account. Cyber sports are definitely popular among the young crowd, including many who have grown up playing video-games and have an inborn perception of gaming that older players don’t have.
New innovations can determine the breadth of cyber sports and sports audiences. So achievements in mobility have already resulted in billions of people worldwide using digital devices. The implementation of 5G, which should happen in the future, will enhance the possibility to reach the content that needs to be accessed on the Internet.
Cybersports viewers
Many cybersport fans pay attention to the amount of viewers in comparison to regular sports competitions. But popularity isn’t just measured by the audience count. For that, there are multiple reasons.
Cybersport is a competitive game in countless genres, from multiplayer online battle arenas (“MOBA”) to real time strategy (“RTS”) and anything between. Going forward, audiences can range according to the game’s name, just as they do with conventional sports. While Dota 2 is aimed at Asia, CS:GO has a notable western audience.
Online platforms also allow cybersports content to be viewed more affordably. Cybersports streamers are using such platforms to stream live events. It makes it easier that fans can attend their favorite games.
The predicted audience for cybersports
The frequently published comparisons of spectatorship to regular sports can be a major factor for those who are considering betting on esports. The previous year’s Newzoo Report showed that the total cybersports audience rose to 495 million, reBy 20presenting an 11.7 percent increase over the same period a year ago.
23, Newzoo predicts that annual growth will be about 10.4%. They also expect the number of casual viewers to grow to 351 million. And that there will be 295 million cybersport enthusiasts, with a total audience of 646 million. The number of cybersport spectators is steadily growing.
Newzoo also published statistics on the growth of the European cybersports audience. The total cybersports audience in Europe was 79 million in 2018, rising to 86 million in 2019 and 92 million in 2020.
Sports viewers
The sport is one of industries that can still simultaneously attract millions of spectators on in-line television and betting online. Thus football is still the most watched world sport, with about 4 billion admirers worldwide.
There are still more traditional sports audiences than there are cybersports audiences. This may remain so, even given the recent growth trajectory of cyber sports compared to traditional sports.