The rise of influencer streaming on Twitch and YouTube has become a lucrative opportunity for brands that want to maximize their esports sponsorship beyond just tournaments.
A common misconception about esports organizations is that they are referred to as teams, which has resulted in confusion for brand sponsors and missed opportunities for those organizations. Esports entities—like Team SoloMid (TSM), Optic Gaming, and Cloud9—are essentially holding companies that encompass teams across a variety of different game titles and leagues. This is closer to the college model, in which various varsity teams represent their parent school, than that of most pro sports franchises.
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Many esports organizations also have rosters of influencers that regularly stream on channels like Twitch, or post their videos to YouTube. Each influencer can have his or her own audience of fans that regularly tunes in to watch him or her stream. Popular Fortnite streamer Myth had 250,000 followers on Twitch in January 2018, the same month he signed with TSM. Nine months later, Myth’s following had grown to 4 million.
When working with esports organizations or influencers, brands can sponsor all of an organization’s teams across multiple game titles. Each league and each game has its own fan demographics allowing brands to pinpoint exact audiences. But for many brands, esports is such a new opportunity that there is little institutional knowledge. To help you get started, download the GumGum Esports Guide.
