Who are the main stakeholders in Esport?

  Esport competitions and its organization is really different from the sport competition we are used to know. In Esport it's the same organism that usually manage the organization of events, is right holder but also creating the content itself.

The Publishers

  The developers are the company creating video games aimed in part to be playable in Esport events. Without them esports wouldn't even exist. These companies are also often publishing themselves the streaming of their championships through their own website.

While on the other hand, some developers just decide to sell the content they are producing to online platforms like Twitch and YouTube. Even Facebook and Twitter are starting to buy licences allowing them to broadcast Esport streaming.

Players and Teams

 

Generally, in Esport the most famous teams are composed of several groups of players. Their size is different depending on the played games. Just like in other sports, esports teams are unisex but only a few teams have created female groups. Most of the teams are created with investments from companies that are looking for a return on investment (e.g. Bitkraft). The Esport market is now estimated around 1 billion dollars. The teams are generating money through:

• Sponsorships (e.g. Wearing brands logos on them).
• Profit Sharing (e.g. Key Events with Partners/Sponsors)
• Stream Partnerships (e.g. Giving the exclusivity to a platform of their training streams)
• Team-Organized Events (small competitions organized with fans)
• Player Appearances (Wearing clothes or using furniture from brands)
• Stream Ads (They are the content and are therefore earning money from ads)

 Some brands even create their own teams of Esport, for instance Red bull and Roccat (brand of PC furniture).

Tournament and League Organizers

 

 The world of Esport is quite small and only a few companies are organizing the most famous tournaments and leagues. Their economic model is based on payments from teams to participate, ads on streaming, media partnerships and sponsorships.

The most important company in Esport is Electronic Sports League launched (ESL) in 2000. They are broadcasting more than 1500 hours of content a year and have already organised more than 109 000 tournaments around the world since its foundation. Numerous other competitors are organizing similar events such as Dreamhack and Major League Gaming

Example of the ESL tournament and its stakeholders:

 

 

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