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E-sports: The unlikely contender leading growth revenue
31% of 18–29-year-olds now follow e-sports regularly – and that number keeps rising. Global e-sports viewership is expected to pass $640 million by the end of 2025, with the market projected to reach around $48 billion by 2034. The numbers tell their own story: this is clearly a sector scaling fast while much of sport is still locked into the traditional revenue models we covered previously.
Too often, leaders in established sports dismiss e-sports’ relevance.
“What can we learn from a sport so different to ours?”
Funnily enough, the answer is… quite a lot. E-sports has grown because it isn’t weighed down by legacy systems, broadcast structures or ownership models built for another era. It’s built for the world we live in now:
- Digital-first
- Community-driven
- Designed for scale… always-on.
This isn’t about trying to make football or cricket look like gaming. It’s about understanding the structural lessons that have made e-sports one of the most dynamic growth engines in global sport.
Built for the 21st century
E-sports’ biggest advantage is its infrastructure. It was designed from day one to scale globally.
- Low-latency live streaming on platforms like Twitch and YouTube Gaming allows for real-time fan feedback, localised sponsor rotation and flexible global reach.
- AR overlays and data visualisation make live broadcasts interactive.
- Cloud-based production studios mean even smaller teams and leagues can create high-quality content at a fraction of traditional costs.
It’s an ecosystem built around content, commerce and community, not retrofitted for them later. Traditional sports are catching up, experimenting with things like the NBA’s new CourtView or F1’s data-driven fan streams. But e-sports started there. Its structure was made for adaptability, which is why it continues to grow so fast.
Culture-first engagement
If women’s sports has expanded the audiences of who watches, e-sports are demonstrating how new audiences want to watch. For Gen Z, interaction is a given. 93% use a second screen during live sports to check stats, talk to friends or engage on social media. E-sports built its model around that behaviour.
Fans can switch camera angles, chat with players, collect digital rewards and join live communities on Twitch, Discord or Kick. These platforms foster an atmosphere of involvement and engagement through broadcast flexibility. The fan is part of the event, not watching from the outside.
Traditional sports are learning fast. NASCAR’s Drive app lets fans influence which drivers appear in highlight clips. The Premier League’s AI-driven app features have lifted engagement by 25%. But this is the world e-sports created: a two-way relationship where fans expect to shape the experience, not just consume it.
Commercialising metadata
E-sports has also redefined what counts as commercial inventory… essentially, using what you already have to build revenue.
The 2024 VALORANT Champions Tour generated more than $44 million in revenue from in-game skins and subscriptions. Co-streaming rights and interactive overlays have become sellable broadcast layers. Luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Nike now sponsor e-sports teams and create limited-edition digital merchandise.
Everything is monetised, from gameplay data to audience engagement. This is a huge contrast to traditional sports, which still relies heavily on physical tickets, media rights and static sponsorship.
As clubs explore connected kits, AR activations and programmable merchandise, e-sports offers the blueprint: digital assets can be scarce, valuable, and scalable all at once.
Lessons for traditional sports
E-sports’ rise isn’t about copying gaming culture. It’s about learning from its structure. Four clear lessons stand out:
- Think in ecosystems – Build year-round, interactive channels rather than one-off matchday moments.
- Design for modularity – Create multiple revenue layers around digital goods, data access, and immersive content.
- Lower production barriers – Give grassroots and challenger events professional-quality tools to grow new audiences.
- Empower new voices – Treat streamers and co-creators as partners who expand reach, not threats to control.
Strategic risk and opportunity
E-sports isn’t without challenges. Only around 10% of viewership currently converts into direct revenue. Player burnout, volatile franchises, and inconsistent governance remain issues. But these gaps are also where innovation happens.
Traditional sports have seen this before, when new markets, new formats, and women’s sports opened up fresh growth curves. The same dynamic is at play here. Engagement is outpacing monetisation, and that’s usually where the biggest breakthroughs come next.
Those who understand the e-sports playbook can apply its principles – community, digital-first operations and adaptive infrastructure – to build more resilient, future-ready models of their own.
How we can help
We work with organisations across all industries to translate or design digital-by-default models into practical growth strategies.
That means helping build modular revenue systems, design fan (or customer) ecosystems, and apply lessons from sectors like e-sports to traditional sports.
The future of growth in sports will come through connecting content, culture and community in ways that generate value long after the final whistle.
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