Over the years, Esports has become a renowned form of entertainment, and statistics suggest that it will cross the 2.5 billion spectators mark by the end of 2021. So you might be wondering, how many people watch Esports? In 2020 it was estimated by Newzoo that Esports had around 2 billion viewers. And in a recent poll it was revealed that over 20% of internet users have at least spectated one Esports competition. The internet is surely welcoming Esports with open arms and is recognizing it as a form of entertainment.
Who watches Esports?
Almost every age group is interested in watching Esports, however, the most dedicated followers are found in the younger generation. Over 30% of the spectators are from the age group of 16 to 24. Meanwhile, 25% of the audience also fall in the age group of 25 to 34. If we look region-wise, then it is no surprise that the majority of the Esports spectators are from Asia. Since in China over 41% of the internet audience has spectated a gaming event.
Esports viewership by countries
As mentioned, Asia is popular when it comes to watching Esports games. Here is a list of countries and their rates of watching Esports games and competitions.
• China – 41%
• Vietnam – 32%
• Philippines – 30%
• Indonesia – 25%
• Thailand – 26%
• India – 25%
• South Korea – 20%
• U.A.E – 21%
• Taiwan – 16%
• Turkey 15%
Viewership of the most prestigious Esports competitions
Here are the viewership numbers from the most popular Esports competition in 2019. We are pulling up 2019 statistics since no competition took place in 2020 because of the whole COVID situation.
- League of Legends: The World Championship of League of Legends, attracted a peak audience of around 4 million views. And people spent an overall of 136 million hours. To date, the competition remains the most-watched Esports tournament.
- Fortnite: The world championship of the Solos events had over 2 million viewers and they watched over 22 million hours of content.
- Dota 2: The third place goes to Dota 2 where the peak viewership climbed to around 2 million viewers with over 87 million hours of content watched.
Do you always have to pay to watch Esports?
Almost every Esports event is free to watch. The cost of streaming is covered by sponsorship and advertising funds. The biggest issue you will face is ads that can be removed via paid subscription service.
The ability to spectate Esports as a live person varies from competition to competition. Some tournaments can be attended for free and are open to the public. The majority of them are usually held in shopping malls. Meanwhile, the events that take place in venues like stadiums and arenas usually require tickets to attend. If you want to attend an event like that then be quick to get tickets as early as possible since they get sold out quite quickly
In the end, we are confident that Esports viewership will continue to grow in the future as the industry continues to attract millions of spectators every year.
