Team Liquid, competing under Team Liquid Honda for the League of Legends division, emerged as the top earner in esports sponsorship revenue, notably securing a significant deal with Honda. However, a substantial gap persists between the sponsorship earnings of traditional sports teams and esports counterparts. Notably, the sponsorship value discrepancy between standalone esports teams and those affiliated with traditional sports teams remains apparent, underscoring the evolving dynamics within the esports industry, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

*GlobalData’ s latest report, “The Business of Esports 2024,” reveals that the consumer goods sector is by far the most prominent amongst esports teams in 2023, accounting for almost 30% of all deals found. In terms the highest spend within the sector, clothing and accessories dominate.

Olivia Snooks, Sport Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Esports teams have experienced exponential growth over recent years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, and this has allowed the top esports teams to attract top brands. For example, car manufacturer Honda is able to engage with a specific target audience through naming rights and being Team Liquid’s primary shirt sponsor.”

However, many esports deals are tagged alongside sports deals, for example PSG’s deal with Nike, which unsurprisingly has a very high value, which does not reflect the value of esports.

Snooks continues: “There is still a major discrepancy between sponsorship value of esports teams and sports teams which have esports teams included in the deal. For big sports teams that have an affiliated esports team, for example PSG and Manchester City, the sponsorship revenue they generate will be far larger than an esports team not affiliated with a sports team. This demonstrates that even though esports has shown such growth and progress in terms of revenue, it is still far behind the status of sports teams.”

Esports has generated a large social media following across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, and YouTube. This highlights how popular esports has become over the past decade. The most popular esports player on social media, Ninja (Tyler Blevins) has over 60 million followers across the five social media platforms. This is over double the following of the top team, FaZe Clan.

Snooks concludes: “Esports social media following emphasizes the real interest among gaming fans, especially in following their favourite players. In modern society, there is no such thing as a stereotypical gamer, and this has enabled the impressive progress which esports has experienced. Through social media, esports fans are able to keep up to date with their favorite teams and players.”