What are the most effective advertising strategies for digital events? And which ones should you avoid? Is esports your next source of profit, or is it just a temporary trend without much impact on your affiliate business? Shall we? And are traditional sports still profitable? We are here to provide the answer.
As cybersports continues to gain traction, affiliates and agencies continue to increase their return on investment for iGaming campaigns powered by Adsterra. Click here to try a new traffic source exclusively for your marketing strategy.
Expert opinions on esports and traditional sports
Mikhail participated in the panel discussion “Esports and traditional sports: a comparative analysis of fan engagement strategies” held at SIGMA Balkans in 2023.
Among the panelists were:
Oliver de Bono: Quantum Gaming CEO
Robert Dowling: EBET Product Director
Vladan Blagojevic: Oddin.gg Business Development Manager
Mikhail Zhukov: Head of Adsterra CPM Department
They explored the peculiarities of the professional game and highlighted its demographic and behavioral differences. Experts agreed that this market is transforming traditional fan engagement patterns and offers practical tips for affiliates to capture this audience.
esports statistics
- The global esports audience is predicted to reach 640 million by 2025 (according to Statista).
- There are over 38,000 professional gaming teams around the world, opening up new advertising opportunities. But experts say not all of these teams are active.
- The three most lucrative eSports teams each generated more than $3 million in revenue as of 2016. Topping the list is OG (Dota 2), with revenue of USD 36.9 million.
- As of 2022, the global esports market is valued at USD 1.38 billion. This value is projected to increase to USD 1.87 billion by 2025.
- Experts say the biggest markets for this niche are North America and Asia, with China already accounting for about a fifth of total sales.
- Approximately 45% of eSports viewers are between the ages of 18 and 24. Another survey of 9,000 people found that the typical eSports fan is in their late 20s, and 30% earn more than $100,000 annually.
These statistics show that esports is growing in popularity, has an active and affluent audience, and that esports is here to stay.
Esports in affiliate marketing
Although esports are transforming the established sports landscape, esports cannot be viewed as a direct competitor or alternative to traditional sports, especially when it comes to affiliate marketing.
context
Sports is an old industry, with time-tested conversion flows and established promotion machines. Many tutorials for traditional sports and games have already been published, so you can minimize errors when starting a new advertising platform.
In esports, affiliates are pioneers. The more involved you are in cyber sports activities, the more opportunities you have to develop a solid promotional strategy.
Channel
Promotional channels are also well known in traditional sports. You can buy traffic from ad networks, drive it to the iGaming platform's registration page, and receive rewards when new users sign up and make deposits.
However, the esports field is more complex. You need to direct your audience to those interested in a particular game. Therefore, in-game promotion makes him one of the best options here.
audience
When using traditional iGaming offers, we understand the buyer persona, know which events will leave them indifferent, and use a large amount of statistics and information to confirm or refute our hypotheses. Have an analysis.
Esports reaches very different audiences in terms of age, behavior, and engagement patterns. Many of his potential customers are under the age of 20. Therefore, an unconventional approach is required to convey the advertising message.
So let's talk about how to reach these new target users.
How to promote your esports offer
Because esports have different engagement patterns compared to traditional sports, affiliates must rely on different techniques to promote their offers. This does not mean that the entire advertising concept is different, but the details make all the difference.
- Bonuses aren't everything
In traditional sports promotions, winning strategies typically include appealing to the team spirit of fan groups, arousing interest in potential prizes, and offering welcome bonuses. Esports will require some new tricks.
Fans are more like consumers than reckless players ready to bet now. This does not mean that the esports community is a group of passive viewers. But to capture their attention, you need to create a two-way connection by providing an engaging experience directly within your ad. This could be gamified content, behind-the-scenes videos, or even exclusive merchandise.
When it comes to high-converting ad formats that grab users' attention, Adsterra offers the best options, including the proven pop-under and the social bar, a unique format with 20-30% higher CTR compared to traditional formats. Offers. Learn more about how to launch campaigns and increase ROI with Social Bar.
- Fan loyalty is different.
There is no established tradition of supporting esports teams, and fan loyalty is lower compared to traditional sports. Esports viewers love watching their favorite athletes play, and their admiration extends beyond skill to the players' personalities.
Game mechanics in esports are very important, and people mainly work on a specific set of rules and philosophy of the game.
- Targeted engagement
In traditional sports, people often have cross-disciplinary interests. Some people might watch a soccer game out of curiosity and check the national hockey team's score at the same time. In eSports, this is even rarer. FIFA fans aren't usually interested in DOTA 2.
As your audience engages with the game, they may become more interested in earning bonuses or winning payouts within the game. This is a case where cryptocurrencies are more attractive than depositing a few dollars into your account.
- many new words and meanings
To promote, you need to speak the language of your audience. But as esports opens up a whole new market, affiliates are faced with many words, meanings, and unknown rules.
If you are not a player, it will be difficult to absorb this myriad of meanings. But instead of searching for “eSports terminology” on Google, it's better to be a part of this wonderful multiverse and learn the terminology as you go.
- Number and age of audience
Still, esports doesn't draw as many spectators compared to traditional tournaments. Furthermore, many of the viewers are under 20 years old and do not have a stable income.
While the number of people interested in cyber tournaments literally skyrocketed during the coronavirus lockdown, viewer numbers haven't seen such impressive growth since then, growing at 5-10% each year. There is.
All this means that affiliates have time to learn more about this field, as it won't become popular within the next 12 months.
- internet speed is important
Live streaming requires broadband speed. This is one, if not the main reason, why esports has not yet caught on globally. We are currently seeing an increase in traffic from the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, but the US and Asia are still leading the way.
- Accelerating market
Sports is about emotion and team spirit. For now, we are only witnessing the esports fan community strengthen. Now, a legend is born, and new drama and excitement are just around the corner. What does this mean? You need to be an experienced trend observer to keep up with new teams and players and avoid confusion about how to reach your customers.
- differentiated communication
Set your targeting, choose your bid amount, buy traffic, count conversions, and get paid. This is what you typically do when running a traditional iGaming campaign. Even in the case of esports, you need to determine which traffic sources are a perfect match.
Official platforms and streaming sites like YouTube and Twitch have many limitations. Our recommendation is to choose influencer marketing. Influencers such as journalists, coaches, athletes, and local celebrities can build strong ties with your brand and the eSports community.
- Comparing in-game promotions and traditional advertising
For example, when promoting a soccer match, affiliates typically appeal to the classic FOMO (fear of missing out) effect and offer bonuses and rewards to those who deposit. Incorporate and evoke team spirit in your tactics using local slang and fan chants to increase engagement.
For esports, it's a little different. What works here is in-game promotion. And in addition, money from the game itself.
As conclusion
Esports is a growing market driven by technology and audience growth. Still, this is a small part of the affiliate marketing realm, but all the predictions confirm one thing. That means the niche market will further develop over the next five years.
Currently, trying to successfully convey messages to eSports viewers through sports channels is not as successful as in-game techniques. However, affiliates will soon have more opportunities to succeed with these offers.
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Source: Adterra
