Reports: esports

Browse all of our reports, featuring our analysts' expert insights and analysis of audience segmentation, emerging trends and technologies, value chains, market shares, predictions and more – backed by our proprietary survey data and bespoke models & forecasts. Become a subscriber to get new ones every month, or just pick one to get started.

Cover image for Esports bundle

Esports bundle
Available for a limited time

Karol Severin and Samuel Griffin

12 Dec 2022

Games esports Sports

This bundle contains three of our most recent esports reports, providing you with a wide selection of insights and content from our analysts. Take this opportunity to get some of our most recent data at a discounted price. Esports viewers update. A valuable segment with a (solvable) growth problem Esports currently struggle to attract consumers bey...

Cover image for Esports viewers update

Esports viewers update
A valuable segment with a (solvable) growth problem

Richard Broadhurst

5 May 2022

Vevo Facebook Twitter

Esports currently struggle to attract consumers beyond esports enthusiasts and players of esport-centric titles. Despite growth problems, the esports viewer segment remains valuable. These consumers have large amounts of time and money spent across entertainment, as well as high ad tolerance.

Cover image for The esports viewer dossier Q1 2021

The esports viewer dossier Q1 2021

Karol Severin

25 Jun 2021

subscribers Gaming Games

...

Cover image for Getting serious about esports

Getting serious about esports
Identifying off-season digital engagement opportunities for sports

Alistair Taylor

31 Mar 2021

Yahoo esports Fox

COVID-19 has expedited the need for rights holders and teams to generate digital engagement beyond the pure play live broadcast. Games and esports became big attention economy winners during the early stages of the pandemic and first lockdown. Rights holders desperate to maintain connectivity with fans looked to esports to drive engagement and main...

Cover image for Digital consumption habits

Digital consumption habits
How tomorrow’s audiences will reshape entertainment

Hanna Kahlert

24 Mar 2021

Streaming Discovery Discovery

Digital-first access has shaped mainstream consumption, but for digital natives, it has also shaped their core behaviours. Music consumption is now fragmented across artists, becoming a personalised, anytime anywhere activity – making the value exchange more niche and personal.

Cover image for 2020 in review

2020 in review
Lockdown legacy impacts on entertainment

Hanna Kahlert

24 Feb 2021

Streaming Netflix Netflix

Digital connections have filled the void left by real-world activities, globalising culture and experience. Yet this comes at the cost of deepening divides in trust and perspective. Changing economic circumstances have brought about a demographic dichotomy of age and income.

Cover image for Sports audiences

Sports audiences
The Gen Z opportunity

Alistair Taylor

8 Feb 2021

Apple Apple Spotify

Digital natives are more likely to consume non-live sports than older, traditional sports fans, which presents rights holders and broadcasters with untapped potential for monetisation by harnessing and actioning this insight. While the most valuable sports audience currently remains among pay-TV subscribers, planning for meaningful non-broadcast re...

Cover image for Sports Rights

Sports Rights
The Great Reset

Alistair Taylor

16 Dec 2020

Spotify Spotify YouTube

COVID-19 exposed live entertainment as a vulnerable asset class during a global health crisis, rendering services overly reliant on live sports broadcasts as primary churn candidates. A major overhaul in rights valuations by pay-TV and sports SVOD distributors is under way.

Cover image for The Esports Viewer Dossier

The Esports Viewer Dossier
Q2 2020

Karol Severin

28 Aug 2020

Games esports Audience Insight

The Esports Viewer DossierQ2 2020 covers: Demographics and penetration Genre and sports preferences Time and money spent Service usage Entertainment behaviours

Cover image for COVID-19 and the Vulnerability of Pure Play Sports Streaming Services

COVID-19 and the Vulnerability of Pure Play Sports Streaming Services

Alistair Taylor

23 Apr 2020

Subscriptions US UK

The postponement of annual competitions and major quadrennial events has highlighted just how heavily pay-TV and sport-centric streaming services’ value propositions rely on live sports. Filling schedules with re-runs, docuseries, interviews and archived footage are stopgaps unlikely to increase engagement.

Cover image for Sports Consumer Trends

Sports Consumer Trends
The Sun Sets on Pay-TV Dominance

Alistair Taylor

6 Feb 2020

Amazon Facebook BBC

With subscription video on demand (SVOD) services surpassing pay-TV penetration en route to becoming a mainstream medium, sporting consumption habits have inherently changed. Rights holders, broadcasters, streaming services and betting and gaming companies will all feel the impact of fast-changing consumption habits and new regional nuances.

Cover image for US and UK Sports Fans

US and UK Sports Fans
Reaching Digital Natives

Alistair Taylor

6 Dec 2019

YouTube Amazon revenue

Sports as a product is feeling the squeeze of the peak attention economy. Sports fans in the traditional sense are ageing, and appealing to a younger digitally-native audience is a fundamental issue that rights holders can no longer ignore. Sports rights holders have realised the importance of their virtual (gaming) counterparts, acknowledging that...

Cover image for E-sports

E-sports
An Alternative Future for Televised Sports?

Alistair Taylor, Karol Severin, Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Zach Fuller

1 Apr 2019

YouTube Amazon Google

E-sports continue to gain attention, with more brands seeking to enter the space populated as it is by a succession of new leagues, competitions and teams. But for all the hype, e-sports has not yet managed to deliver the scale of audience that the market activity warrants.

Cover image for MIDiA Data Spotlight: Esports

MIDiA Data Spotlight: Esports
Emerging Markets Driving Audience

Karol Severin

2 Oct 2018

esports e-sports Gamers

This is part of MIDiA’s data snapshot series in which we spotlight curated consumer datasets. Figure 1: Esports are Gaining Traction in Emerging Markets Percentage of Consumers that Attend Esports Events, Q1 2018 Esports event attendance among the 16-plus online population is level across the key English-speaking markets in Europe and in Japan an...

Cover image for MIDiA Research Predictions 2017

MIDiA Research Predictions 2017
The Year Of The Platform

Karol Severin, Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Zach Fuller

30 Nov 2016

Streaming Streaming Music Paid Content

As we correctly predicted, 2016 was the year video ate the world. 2017 is going to be shaped by the battle for consumer attention through formatting and distribution wars. VR is likely to cede further ground to AR, bots will become established, while messaging apps add to their dominant position (even though user growth will slow).

© 2025 MIDiA Research Ltd. All Rights Reserved.