If 2023 was esports winter — a time of austerity caused by brands pulling back on their marketing spend in the space — then 2024 marked the beginning of esports spring, or at least somewhat of a thaw. As advertisers once again opened their wallets for esports inventory, the entire industry breathed a collective sigh of relief. However, esports is not yet a standard category in advertising spend forecasts, and it’s unclear exactly what proportion of brands’ gaming marketing dollars went towards the competitive side of the space over the past year. For now, tales of the recovery of esports in 2024 remain largely anecdotal.

Last year, Digiday published a “cynic’s guide” to esports in 2023. This year, the industry’s outlook is decidedly more optimistic. However, many esports companies remain unprofitable, and industry leaders are still trying to find a path forward that is sustainable in the long term. 

Here’s a pragmatic look at the ups and downs of esports in 2024 — and how leaders across the space kept their companies afloat during a period of ongoing change.

A light at the end of the tunnel

Across the board, the leaders of esports companies told Digiday that brands were more interested in working with them in 2024 than in 2023. The esports organization 100 Thieves, for example, signed almost 20 new sponsors and renewed 75 percent of its pre-existing sponsors in 2024, according to 100 Thieves COO Julie Van — a notable increase over the org’s 11 new sponsors and 50 percent renewal rate in 2023.

“I think brands are becoming a little bit more innovative and understanding that this space definitely has its benefits, but you do need to know how to speak to that audience,” Van said. “That’s where the value of partnering with 100 Thieves is pretty important.”

Esports publishers and league operators have experienced an uptick in marketers’ interest as well. Riot Games president of publishing and esports John Needham told Digiday that the company’s global and regional esports leagues had generated roughly $25 million in sponsorship revenue in 2024, with a 95 percent sponsorship renewal rate — a significant increase over Riot’s roughly 70 percent renewal rate between 2022 and 2023.

“The fundamentals of our business remain super strong,” Needham said. “We have a very young audience; they’re very hard to reach in normal channels. Esports is a very efficient buy for sponsors, and I think that’s getting out.”

The figures Van and Needham shared are encouraging, and line up with the positive noises made by the eight other esports industry executives with whom Digiday spoke for this story — but the majority of the esports companies that Digiday contacted declined to share specific stats to back up their statements that brands’ interest in the space has increased. With few numbers to be shared, it’s difficult to ascertain just how much the good vibes have helped esports companies’ bottom lines.

“I’m thinking about the consolidation of esports leagues and teams: as certain teams and leagues get more scale, they’re a better buy for marketers,” said Max Bass, director of emerging connections at agency Gale. “I certainly don’t feel like esports winter is over, but I do feel like I saw more activity and more impressive deals signed over the past six-to-nine months than I did in 2023 and in 2022.”

All about the EWC

This summer was the summer of the Esports World Cup. The inaugural edition of the event was sponsored by brands such as PepsiCo, Amazon and Adidas and achieved peak viewership numbers in the millions, in addition to significant foot traffic on the ground in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“For year number one, we got more than 2.5 million visitors to the festival and the tournament itself,” said Esports World Cup Foundation Chief Product Officer Faisal bin Homran. “So, these numbers are giving us more energy to do more stuff in the future, and I hope that we can improve and listen more to the community and the people who love this.”

In a year in which some other esports companies and events were licking their wounds, the Esports World Cup — and by extension its owners in the Saudi Arabian government — dominated the conversation for months.

“Their PR and marketing was absolutely incredible; they were on all the news outlets,” said Hicham Chahine, CEO of the esports team Ninjas in Pyjamas. “When large governments have an interest in investing into the space, of course, that is going to trickle down.”

Some esports titles benefited more from the Esports World Cup than others. Mobile esports such as “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” and “Honor of Kings” draw record-breaking viewership, encouraging more teams and viewers in Western countries to pay attention to them.

Thanks to the Esports World Cup, prominent Western esports orgs such as Team Liquid, Vitality and Fnatic signed new mobile esports rosters in 2024, and industry observers expect more teams to jump into the space in the new year.

“When you see the success of these games in Brazil, the Middle East and China, it becomes obvious that the Western world didn’t wake up early enough,” said G2 Esports CEO Alban Dechelotte. “It’s something that we are monitoring with a lot of interest.”

But although the Esports World Cup satisfied many of its stakeholders, it’s unclear whether the event’s viewership, which hit peaks in the hundreds of thousands across two months of content, was good enough to justify the massive expense of putting it on. At the moment, the Esports World Cup Foundation has announced that the second edition of the event will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2025. It is yet to be determined whether another nation might be interested in taking over the event — and its steep hosting fees — from 2026 onward.

“We are working a lot on making this IP worth it for everyone — to be sustainable and powerful by itself. That’s number one,” bin Homran said. “Number two is, of course, we would like to negotiate and discuss this IP to be in different places.”

Saudi Arabia’s growing dominance within the esports industry has sparked protests from some corners of the gaming community. Online critics of the Esports World Cup and other Saudi esports initiatives have pointed out the country’s human rights issues, which include the persecution of women and LGBTQ individuals, prompting esports organizations such as Team Liquid to publicly justify their participation in the event. For the most part, however, advertisers appeared to be unperturbed by these potential issues, in part due to the significant financial opportunity of the Saudi Arabian market.

Publisher power

2024 was also a year marked by closer collaboration between the publishers of esports titles and the constellation of companies that makes up the esports ecosystem.

“It’s about trying to get the team business to sustainability, along with our business,” Needham said.

Across the board, publishers gave more responsibilities over to esports leagues operators — including the ability to sign sponsorships pegged to esports inventory — helping esports companies such as Blast announce profitability this year. 

“2024 has been an incredible year for BLAST, building on the momentum from an outstanding 2023. What stands out is how much we’ve grown, both in terms of revenue and the sheer scale of what we’ve delivered, doubling the number of arena shows delivered in that period,” said Blast CEO Robbie Douek. “Even without hosting a ‘Counter-Strike’ major this year, we ramped up our output across other esports titles — we’re now working with five of the ten biggest games in esports after recently adding ‘Rocket League’ and ‘Dota 2.’”

In addition to giving more responsibilities over to third-party league operators, esports publishers have also created more opportunities for esports teams to get a share of games’ revenues through initiatives such as Riot Games’ “Valorant” team capsules, which has helped put orgs such as Sentinels on the path to profitability. 

“When you look at the ‘Call of Duty’ League, they have their capsules for their teams; ‘Halo’ has it,” said Chris DeAppolonio, CEO of the esports team Evil Geniuses. “I think a lot of publishers realize that this is the future opportunity for ways to bring revenue to the teams that are participating.”