Esports is now a mainstream entertainment phenomenon. Our Global Esports Market Report shows that the worldwide esports audience will reach 443.1 million this year, made up of 197.9 million Esports Enthusiasts and 245.2 million Occasional Viewers. Gamer numbers are even higher, topping 2.5 billion this year across all platforms. And these figures are only due to grow toward 2022 and beyond. Yet, the consumers who play games and/or watch esports have an appetite for specific games, franchises, and even publishers. Understanding these consumers’ engagement around particular franchises is vital for any brand, investor, or company looking to enter the esports business. This is why many of our clients—including consumer brands, game publishers, and more—subscribe to our services.

In this post, we will use our Consumer Insights to tackle three important questions for any company looking to enter esports: How do some of the biggest esports franchises compare in terms of players and viewers? How big is the overlap between viewers of different franchises? And what are the key demographic differences (gender, age, and hobbies/interests) between China’s fans of distinct franchises?

Our analysis mainly focuses on League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and Overwatch; however, we also zoom in on the popular Dota 2 and Tencent’s Honor of Kings.

Esports Creates a Stickiness Around Game Franchises, Keeping Fans Engaged for Longer

In the span of just two decades, gaming has flourished into the world’s favorite pastime. But as abundantly clear from Newzoo’s Gamer Segmentation™, gamers are now more multi-dimensional and fragmented than ever before. Not only are they playing games, they are also watching video game content and esports. Although many publishers incentivize players to spend much of their time in game, the energy that players can pour into games—especially immersive and competitive titles—is limited. There are even some personas, including Popcorn Gamers and Backseat Viewers, who spend more time watching than playing.

Game video content around competitive games, especially esports, is a viable and enjoyable alternative to intense ‘’lean-forward’’ gaming sessions. These viewing sessions offer a far more relaxed ‘’lean-back’’ experience—all while keeping fans fully engaged with their preferred franchises. In some cases, a franchise’s number of viewers can even exceed the number of active players. A significant share of fanbases for some franchises no longer play —or have never played—the game, but still watch esports. This is especially true for long-established competitive franchises with a well-developed esports scene.

For example, 26% of League of Legends’ fans and 23% of CS:GO’s fans are esports viewers only and do not play. This means that a significant share of fans can only be reached through esports.

The lean-back consumption of esports content, coupled with fans’ attachment to teams and players, helps gravitate consumers toward franchises—even after they stop playing (temporarily or permanently). Utilizing esports, publishers are aiming to re-engage fans in terms of playing. Even if this does not happen, the esports fanbase is so large and engaged organizers can still generate revenue from esports fans though ad- and media-driven business models.

Of course, many fans do not watch, meaning they are active players only. We define active players as those who have played a title in the past three months. Out of the five franchises we looked at, Overwatch has the highest share of players only (54%), followed by Dota 2, with 50%. Under a third of League of Legends fans are players only. What’s more, there are plenty of consumers in each game’s franchise who play and watch: 45% for Honor of Kings, 42% for League of Legends, and 32% for Overwatch. This provides plenty of opportunities for cross-promotions across playing and watching.

Crossover Between Viewers of League of Legends, Overwatch, and CS:GO

For 12 markets across North America and Europe, we looked at the combined viewership fanbase of three of the biggest global esports franchises: League of Legends, CS:GO, and Overwatch, looking out for overlap. As you can see in the Venn diagram below, most fans across these markets are loyal to just one of the three franchises, with 29% watching only League of Legends, 25% watching only CS:GO, and 17% watching only Overwatch. Overall, 71% of viewers watch only one of these franchises.

Naturally, there is also crossover in terms of franchise esports viewership. For example, 9% of respondents watch both League of Legends and CS:GO, while 8% watch both League of Legends and Overwatch. Just 6% of watch both CS:GO and Overwatch, even though both games are shooters. Similarly, 6% of respondents watch all three franchises.

Diving into Demographics: A Look at China’s Fanbases for the Country’s Biggest Esports Titles

Each esports franchise has a unique community, and this differs by market. This has some major implications for companies looking to enter esports, as the demographic makeup of each franchise’s fanbase can be completely different. Using Newzoo’s Consumer Insights and Gamer Segmentation, you can discover the key demographics and personas for each franchise’s esports fans, allowing you to pinpoint the esports franchises your target audience watch most.

In this final section, we’ll look at the demographics of esports viewers in China, focusing on three of the country’s biggest esports games: PC MOBAs League of Legend and Dota 2, and mobile MOBA Honor of Kings.

Looking at the gender split of all three games’ fans in China, Honor of Kings has the highest share of female viewers (44%), followed by Dota 2 with 43%. Interestingly, League of Legends’ share of women is far lower, at just 26%; however, the base for League of Legends fans is larger than Dota’s. Honor of Kings is currently a mobile-only title, so its higher share of females makes sense (mobile has the highest share of female players). The standout hobbies and interests of each games’ fanbases are also different when analyzing the viewers of these games. The most over-indexing interest/hobby for China’s League of Legends esports audience, for example, is cars and motorbikes. This provides an ample opportunity for any automotive brand looking to reach younger audiences. Dota 2’s fans, on the other hand, are likelier to enjoy board- or card games.

Across 30 markets, Newzoo’s Consumer Insights allows you to profile the esports/games audience based +200 variables, including demographics, media behavior, preferences, devices, spending habits, brand attitude, game streaming behavior, esports awareness, and more. Reaching your target audience just got a whole lot easier.

Newzoo’s Consumer Insights: Empowering Businesses to Make Strategic Decisions

Newzoo’s Consumer Insights is already used by many of the world’s biggest games, media, and hardware companies. These insights are based on the online audience aged between 10 and 65 (or between 10 and 50 for select markets, like China).



And the accompanying interactive dashboard lets users slice and dice the data however they like, giving them actionable insights on the consumers that matter most to them. Each subscription also comes with support from an expert Newzoo analyst.

Want to learn how our Consumer Insights can help your business? Contact us at questions@newzoo.com.