Revenue Diversification

With the consistent and significant growth of esports many are beginning to search for new and diverse ways to create revenue streams.

One of the vital and central element of an esports brands revenue is sponsorships. Getting sponsors from established brands such as Adidas and Samsung works incredibly well for a team in terms of making money but what comes after?

Many teams are on the hunt for innovative ways to make money. One of the teams to look towards is G2. As a brand, G2 sells their own merchandise, offers subscriptions to insider content and monetises heavily from social media channels such as YouTube.

Around a year ago, the esports model saw a change. With the pandemic striking in 2020, many were forced back into their homes unable to go to live sports events. Esports was the perfect replacement, it could be 100% digital and fans could spectate and enjoy tournaments from their homes.

With the relaxation of the restrictions, many have remained just as, if not more, interested in esports tournaments. This has ultimately led to the great success of the industry as a whole. Esports, as an industry, now offers opportunities for scalable digital solutions.

It has been discussed that the teams are no longer necessarily needed or expected to win the games. They just need to be present at the tournament. Many esports players are becoming what can be referred to as ‘micro-celebrities’. They have a pretty significant following, on top of athlete status and have t-shirts and other merchandise with their names on it.

Moving back to G2 as a model for revenue diversification, they have implemented celebrities as a part of their roster. High-profile names such as rapper Snoop Dogg have been included in the team as a way of attracting an audience to G2.

Many teams are becoming more and more creative with their branding and establishing direct consumer loyalty. Moving forward, many are beginning to implement a direct to consumer strategy (D2C). This furthers brand loyalty by creating a sense of belonging to fans. Offering exclusive products directly to consumers acts as an incentive to remain interested.

With the growth and change taking place in the esports industry, many brands and teams are beginning to understand that as the industry changes, they must change with it — whatever change occurs, fans will always remain loyal and interested.