According to a new report entitled, Esports and The Future of TV, from IHS Markit, esports video is continuing its growth worldwide with viewing in the genre exceeding 6 billion hours globally in 2016, which is up by 19% from 2015.
Online viewing of the esports video market accounted for more than 85% of time spent watching esports, with China being the largest market accounting for 57% of all viewing last year. The number of video streams delivered in China totalled 11.1 billion in 2016, compared with North America, the second-largest market, with 2.7 billion video streams.
Esports advertising totalled about $280 million globally in 2016, with the category expected to become a $1 billion advertising industry by 2021 with the growth primarily driven by video, influencer marketing and sponsorship.
