Nielsen Sports, a leading provider of analytical information and statistics in the sports industry, shared the results of a new Russian esports audience research in his speech at the ESforce Morning Show online conference. According to the company, the audience of esports fans in Russia for 2020 increased by 28% and amounted to 15.4 million people aged 13 and over.
According to new research, among esports fans, 64% of men and 36% of women, the average audience income is 41,700 rubles per person. In 2020, Nielsen Sports analysts found a significant increase in fans: 25% of fans surveyed began to follow matches during the past year, of which 54% are girls and women.
Michael Heina, Head of esports International at Nielsen Sports‘ statement
“Esports has a strong fanbase in Russia and as our research shows it is still growing. The growth even got a boost during the global pandemic, as many people turned to gaming as a good and entertaining way to spend their time. And as the growing number of esports fans in Russia shows many of these gamers also discovered how fun it is to follow esports. But, it will be crucial for the rights holders to keep the fans interested and offer them many and attractive ways to engage with their favorite topic so they don’t lose interest.
But not only young males love esports, as many people think, we also see more and more female fans. This is a global trend but the effect is outstandingly strong in Russia”.
Sergey Barkhudaryan, Commercial Director of ESforce Holding said, “Such a significant increase in the audience was not a surprise for us, it is in line with our annual forecast for the development of the industry. The entire industry works every day to promote esports and fight for the attention of a wider audience. We try to be relevant to people of different ages, preferences, and interests.”
“ESforce is constantly working on studying the esports audience, as it is critical for us to be transparent and effective for our partners. Of course, our partners also play an important role in the growth of the industry, as they focus their advertising campaigns not only on the target audience of esports but also on a wider audience of their potential customers and consumers, thereby popularizing the industry. I am sure that in 2021 we will see even more new brands and interesting projects on the territory of esports.”
