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Newzoo Adjusts 2020 Esports Forecast due to COVID-19

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  • Newzoo revised the expected market revenue for 2020
  • Pandemic influences the Media Rights and Sponsorship Revenue
  • Streaming earnings affected; positive results expected in 2023

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Newzoo has released an updated forecast for 2020. The esports industry has shown outstanding resilience.

Esports Market Revenue Revised

Newzoo, an esports and gaming analytics company, has adjusted its forecast for the global esports market in 2020, publishing an updated estimate for esports revenue.

Initial estimation put  the value of the marketat just above $1,100 million. This number has now been revisited to $1,059 in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Newzoo used the occasion to both reduce its esports market revenue estimate as well as forecast a stronger 2023.

According to the company, revenue in 2023 will progress quicker than previously expected, increasing to $1,598 million from $1,556 million.

Media Rights and Sponsorship Affected by the Pandemic

In the latest update, Newzoo shares that the forecast decrease was due to the “temporary cease in esports activity”. This is the direct impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, which forced many events to change date or cancel temporarily.

Newzoo also announced that their tickets and merchandise forecast for 2020 also took a downturn from the initial $121,7 million to $106.5 million. In addition, the company also reduced the media rights and sponsorship forecasts for 2020.

According to analysts, the transition of leagues to online-only platforms and event cancellation is impacting both media rights and sponsorship as well as merchandising and tickets.

Revenue Downturn for 2020, Promising Better Results for 2023

Newzoo estimates a slight increase for streaming revenue, from $18.2 million up to $19.9 million for 2020. Streaming revenue should also grow slightly more than expected in 2023 with the company expecting $34.4 million from $31.6 million previously.

With many countries implementing a stay-at-home restriction, the views have gone up and there are also newcomers that joined the esports streaming. Last week, Riot Game’s new shooter – Valorant broke a record for hours watched on Twitch in a week.

Lastly, the company assured that they would keep track of current events. Further esports industry updates would be forthocoming.

Thumbnail image credit: Newzoo

Simone Williams

simonewilliams
Simone isn’t shy of embracing any type of esports content. Whether she would pop on a podcast or share her thoughts in writing, that is entirely up to her. The important thing is that she’s an avid player who isn’t fussy about her platforms. Consoles, PC and mobile are all part of the solution for Simone as she keeps playing nearly all mainstream esports games today. How she finds the time? It beats us! Simone is one of our most energetic team members that doesn’t seem to slow down at all.

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