Our key observations in the Newzoo Global Esports Report

Newzoo is the world’s most prominent platform that provides analytics and insights about the world of Esports and gaming. Each year Newzoo releases reports about the key analytics of this sector and each year, it demonstrates again that Esports is becoming a huge global phenomenon. In this blog post we have gathered the facts that you should know from the latest Newzoo report that was released in December 2021.

Global Overview

Newzoo reported that out of the 7.7 billion people in the world, almost 1.9 billion are aware of Esports. Of these, 215 million are Esports enthusiast — people who engage with Esports more than once in a month.

Esports is becoming even more attractive for investors as it has generated a revenue $947.1M in 2021 and will exceed $1.6 billion by 2024, according to Newzoo. The biggest category of the revenue is due to sponsorships, however with COVID restrictions subsiding, it is expected that other revenue streams such as merchandise and tickets will slowly recover.

Streaming platforms

Gaming and Esports were highly impacted by the circumstances of Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021. As many people were restricted by the measures implemented to fight the pandemic, for many, the only and safe way to connect with other people and to socialise was through the online world.

Streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube and online gaming experienced a great boom during lockdown. According to Newzoo report, the global games live-streaming audience has hit 728.8 million in 2021. The Verge claims that even the hours spent on these platforms have gone up 80 percent during the year. Moreover on Twitch, the “Just Chatting” category was the most viewed in 2020.

Live-events are returning

Even though many would expect that gaming and Esports did not struggle thanks to its online nature, in reality the cancelled live-events have negatively affected the industry as well. It led to elimination of ticket revenues while it also limited the chance of selling merchandise.

However, we are glad to see that now in 2022 in-person events are returning and we could look forward to attend events like 2022 Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Championship in South America or League of Legends World Championship 2022 in Mexico.

Traditional sports streaming into Esports

Unlike Esports which still could broadcast its matches online, traditional sports had no such opportunity. As they sought for an alternative way to carry on with the matches or games, eventually the only way was through the online world. Newzoo points out that the interruption of physical sports events led to ‘traditional’ sports shifting more into Esports. For example, F1 teams held online races which gave the fans an opportunity to still watch their favourite F1 drivers. Some drivers like Lando Norris or George Russell have even broadcasted on Twitch playing other games than F1.

Rewired's thoughts

As Esports and gaming is one of the fastest growing industries it is no wonder that the figures are increasing each year. With other sectors shifting into the esports sphere and the constant announcements of new esports sponsorships with endemic and non-endemic brands, the world of esports and gaming remains fascinating and full of surprises. We can’t wait to see what the year 2022 will bring us.