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Esports revenue will exceed $1 billion in 2020

China will generate the most revenue

Esports revenue will exceed $1 billion in 2020

Global esports revenue is expected to exceed $1 billion in 2020, according to Newzoo.

This year, three-quarters of the generated revenue - $822.4 million - will come from media and sponsorships. By 2023, this number is predicted to increase to $1.2 billion - the equivalent of 76 per cent of esports revenue.

Unsurprisingly, China has the largest market revenue. In 2020, China will generate $385.1 million - an 18 per cent increase year on year. North America follows, it bringing in $252.8 million. In third is Western Europe, which is expected to generate $201.2 million.

Last year, $56.3 million was generated through the 885 major esports events that were held - 2019 had a prize total of $167.4 million.

In terms of audience numbers, this year will see 495 million people tune in to watch esports. This represents an increase of 11.7 per cent. It is believed that 222.9 million will be esports enthusiasts - a growth of 10.8 per cent.

Esports enthusiasts are thought to bring in an average of $4.94 per person, an increase of 2.8 per cent from 2019.

Mobile esports

"In the past 12 months, mobile esports has enjoyed a huge spike, and we expect this popularity to increase even further in the coming months. Markets like Southeast Asia, India, and Brazil are at the forefront of this growth," said Newzoo

"The prevalence of lite apps—combined with the success of games like PUBG Mobile and Garena Free Fire—has solidified competitive mobile gaming as a popular pastime in these emerging markets.

"Naturally, competitive scenes in these games have also exploded in popularity across growth markets, contributing to a huge jump in live viewership numbers for mobile esports. In fact, viewership jumped from 15.3 million hours in 2018 to 98.5 million in 2019—an increase of more than 600%."

Last year, mobile app company Strafe received an investment of $3 million for an esports companion app.


Staff Writer

Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.