More than $1 billion will be spent on esports ads by 2021

Despite viewership reaching more than six billion hours in 2016 according to IHS Markit analysis, big names are still shy on marketing in the esports business. This might change soon with predictions of $1 billion to be spent on the span of the next five years.

One of the reasons for the lack of trust in esports is significant fragmentation, which is holding it back from its potential. Esports viewership might be huge on the global scale, but on a country-by-country comparison, viewership remains smaller than many traditional sports. That said, esports’ demographic is highly attractive for non-endemics. Brands like Audi, Visa, or Vodafone have all made partnerships with the best teams in the world.

“The audience might be small, but within its demographic, it is overindexing versus traditional sports on TV,” FT quotes IHS analyst Dan Cryan, one of the report’s authors.

IHS estimates that $280 million were spent on esports advertising last year, and forecasts that figure to rise to $1 billion by 2021. Chinese viewers make the biggest share in the esports market, accounting for 57 percent of all viewing in 2016. The second-largest market in North America is being dwarfed by more than four times as many games were watched online in China compared with North America.