Dynamics Of Esports Sponsoring

Throughout e-sports history, the economy of e-sports comes entirely by sponsors. Therefore, it is necessary to represent the sponsors adequately at various e-sports events. However, most of the people in e-sports gaming world are unaware of how much representation is adequate.

Compared to other sports, e-sports gaming is heavily sponsored. So much so that, when you take the names of teams such as ‘Evil Geniuses’ you immediately recall "RaidCall". This goes further; even the names of players append with "RaidCall". Rest assured that it is just not "RaidCall" alone in the feats. You also hear the names of Kingston, "Razer", "HyperX", Monster Energy, etc in similar fashion. This phenomenon is not restricted to USA or Europe either. In Korea you can hear player names such as ‘Samsung Khan’ or ‘LG-Incredible Miracle’.

Sponsors have to boost their brands’ recognition and appeal. They have to stick with best teams and players. It is often the team itself which decides how to maximize the return on investment for the sponsors. They decide the best ways to do it. They do this by streaming overlays, setting up props and stalls in the arena, emitting call-outs, etc.

The investment is (considered) secured by supporting a tournament instead of a team. It requires short-term support and displays a sponsors brand all over an event watched by a certain amount of people. Conversely, a team requires long-term support and the results are still not clear.

Like the teams and players, e-sports gaming tournaments are also heavily dependent on sponsors. Give or take one or two organizations of e-sports, other e-sports organizations lack the financial muscle to hold an event alone, such as Valve and Riot. Intel and Dr. Pepper were major sponsors supporting "IEM" and MLG respectively.

Representation of sponsors is easy in offline e-sports gaming events, such as Major League Gaming. Display the banners all over the event venue and set up their individual booths. "MLG" did a good job by adequately representing Dr. Pepper in the event, so that whoever attended the event drank a bit of Dr. Pepper’s cans.

E-sports community through online contents and events sustains the gaming events, such as "DOTA". Problem with online events is that you don’t have a venue to publicize the sponsors. Thus, only two promotion options are available, overlays and call-outs.

Overlays are easier compared to call-outs since you can fill the unused space in the game’s user interface, with sponsor logos. Every viewer watching the tournament sees the sponsors. On the other hand, call-outs need to be done elegantly and requires practice. A viewer will understand that you need to thank the sponsors repeatedly during a game or tournament, but they tend to get irritated with poor schemes of more call-outs.

The responsibility gets bigger with the big amount of money. There are very few options in an online e-sports gaming tournament. It survives with sponsorships and representing the sponsors using effective ways will bring up more sponsors. It is important for both the organizers and viewers, determining the effective ways of sponsor representation. More sponsors will enter the scene of e-sports gaming as it grows. For example, if constant commercials of Dr. Pepper bother you, you should say so. It is still being figured out how to build brand recognition and expose to the viewers without turning off the viewing experience.