Esports Gaming Statistics 2022

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The esports gaming industry has been on an upward trajectory for some time now, showing impressive year-on-year growth and reaching a combined global audience of 495 million people in 2020. The industry’s growth was slowed somewhat in 2020 due to the global coronavirus pandemic putting a halt on many live events across the globe. The global esports market revenue has been predicted to hit $1.1 billion in 2020, but ultimately fell just short of this, bringing in $1.06 Billion instead.

Esports prize pools continue to rise though, with Fortnite offering the biggest 2020 prize pool with a combined prize pool of $10.3 million. The top ten esports tournaments offered a combined prize pool of $177 million in 2019 – so it is clearly still a huge and growing industry to be involved in.

Market Value

Global esports market revenue 2021

Value by Revenue Source

Esports market revenue worldwide 2021

Top Team Earnings

Top eSports teams by earnings 2021

Prize Pool

Top eSports games by cumulative prize pool 2021

The eSports worldwide audience totalled over

0 Million
in 2021

The eSports worldwide audience totalled over 474 million in 2021

Statista, 2021

the worldwide eSports market revenue was worth

$ 0 Billion
in 2021

In 2021, the worldwide eSports market revenue was worth $1.28 Billion U.S dollars

Statista, 2021

The League of Legends World Championship Finals reached a record-breaking

0 Million
Average Minute Audience (AMA) in 2021

The League of Legends World Championship Finals reached a record-breaking 30.6 million Average Minute Audience, up by 32.8%

Riot Games, 2021

DOTA 2 had the biggest eSports prize pool of

$ 0 Million
U.S Dollars in 2021

DOTA 2 had the biggest eSports prize pool in 2021 of $40 million U.S dollars

Esports Earnings, 2021

The Top 10 eSports tournament prize pool totalled over

$ 0 Million
as of January 2022

The Top 10 eSports tournament prize pool totalled over $188 million as of January 2022

Esports Earnings, 2022

Activision Blizzard Inc. holds the most of eSports market shares worldwide at

$ 0 %
in 2021

Activision Blizzard Inc. holds the most of eSports market shares worldwide at 21.85% in 2021

Statista, 2021

Overview

Esports has moved on from being a niche industry that brought in a few thousand viewers for the biggest tournaments. Now, the worldwide esports audience totals over 495 million people, and is only expected to increase. One event, the Leage of Legends World Championship Finals, managed to pull in a record-breaking 21.8 million average minute audience when it aired in 2019.
Sources:Statista, Riot Games

2018 Update
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​19% of U.S. gamers said they watch eSports live streams regularly, 19% said they watch it occasionally, and 9% of them said they watch it rarely. (Statista, 2017)​

2022 Update

As of September 2021, a survey in the U.S reported the level of interest in eSports. 9% were avid fans, 19% were casual fans and 72% were not a fan.

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In December 2021, the streaming platform Twitch had approximately 7.57 million streamers which was a decline from the 9.89 million in January 2021.

2018 Update

The market revenue of the eSports market in 2017 amounted to 655 million U.S. dollars.

esportsbets.com, 2018
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NewZoo, 2019
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WeForum, 2018
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Market Leaders

As esports continues to branch out and grow as an industry, so do the games and teams involved, and the prize pots offered to winners. In 2017, Dota 2 accounted for the most distribution of annual prize pools, covering a total of 34.3% of the total worldwide prize pool. This has since been taken over by Fortnite that offered up a total of $64.42 million in prizes in 2019 compared to Dota 2’s $46.97 million.
Sources: Statista

2022 Update
Top eSports teams by earnings 2021

Top esports teams by earnings

Statista, 2021
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Leading eSports tournaments worldwide 2021

Leading eSports tournaments worldwide, 2021

Statista, 2021
2022 Update

As of March 2021, the leading female eSports player by earnings was Scarlett (Sasha Hostyn) with 393.03 thousand U.S dollars in earnings. Whilst the leading male eSports player by earnings was N0tail (Johan Sundstein) with 6.97 million U.S dollars in earnings.

2022 Update

The leading eSports tournaments based on views in May 2021 were Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore with 5.41 million peak viewers, second was the League of Legends World Championship 2019 and 2020 with 3.99 and 3.88 million peak viewers.

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Esports Earnings, 2020
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The player Lil Poison was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest professional video game player

Guinness Book of World Records, 2020
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Marketing & Advertising

As the world of esports continues to grow, more and more businesses want a slice of the pie. Because of this, we have seen the marketing and advertising side of esports grow alongside the industry over the last few years as well. Sponsorship and advertising spend has steadily increased from $124.41 million in 2017 to $277.29 million in 2019, and is expected to reach $634.03 million by 2023.
Sources: Statista

2022 Update
Esports market revenue worldwide 2021

Esports market revenue worldwide

Statista, 2021
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Esports sponsorship and advertising spending worldwide

Esports sponsorship and advertising spending worldwide

Statista, 2021
2018 Update

32% of the eSports fans as of May 2017 said that they would definitely try products shown during eSports games while 31% said they would somewhat agree with the statement. (Research Now, 2017)

2022 Update

Twitch is a major streaming platform for eSports but it has a low volume of ads running. The annual growth rate for the eSports market from 2017 to 2022 is expected to be 22.3% and revenue is mostly generated through sponsorships.

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NewZoo, 2019
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VentureBeat, 2019
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Esport Betting

As the prize pools, and therefore the stakes, continue to rise in the world of esports, so does the world of esports betting. As with any sports, betting on the outcome of top esports tournaments is becoming a big business. While it still pales in comparison compared to sports betting, this is set to rise. In 2019, esports betting took up only 1.6% of sports betting, but by 2024 this is expected to 3.2%. Most of this betting takes place in Europe (with 44.5% share of the market) and Asia/ Middle East (with 40.7%).
Sources: igamingbusiness

2022 Update
Regional split of global esports betting

Regional split of global esports betting

igamingbusiness, 2021
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Esports betting as a percentage of sports betting

Esports betting as a percentage of sports betting

igamingbusiness, 2021
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Total global esports betting gross win

Total global esports betting gross win

igamingbusiness, 2021
2018 Update

The total bets of eSportsbook betting were expected to cover 92.6% of the estimated total amount wagered on eSports on cash gambling sites around the world in 2016. (eSports Betting Report, Narus Advisors, 2016)

2022 Update

In an August 2021 report, Australian gamblers were the most popular within eSports betting. Australians formed 16% of eSports gamblers worldwide, second was the United States at 15%, in contrast only 3% of gamblers were from the United Kingdom and had bet on eSports in the year leading to the survey being conducted.

2018 Update

Leading the distribution of the eSportsbook total amount wagered worldwide in 2016 is League of Legends, covering 38% of the shares. (eSportsBettingReport, 2016)

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Inside World Football, 2019
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VentureBeat, 2019
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igamingbusiness, 2020
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iGB, 2020
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Esport Startup Funding

The rapid growth of the esports market has seen a number of start ups appear within the industry covering everything from stat tracking to communication. The biggest esports-related start-up in the US has been the VoIP messaging service Discord, with venture capital of $50k, followed up by Skills which received $25k in venture capital. Investment in esports companies around the world is set to increase year on year with an 18.8% growth from 2016 to 2017.
Sources: CB Insights, TNL Media

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