Identifying the pros, cons and tactics of eSports sponsorships: An integrative literature review

Freitas, Bruno Duarte Abreu; Espinosa, Ruth Sofía Contreras; Correia, Pedro Álvaro Pereira

doi:10.4000/cp.7243

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…This statement was supported by the best practice study from one research article, and the result was the most threatening elements are disreputable behavior, negative media influence, the industry's infancy, the videogame's short lifespan, long-term investments, poor performance, and the low visibility outside Twitch and YouTube. As such, brands must be in sync with the audience, punish disreputable behavior, promote gaming's acceptance, study the market, and commit to long-term investments (22). This was related to the result from the previous research, and the result was concept of Esport consumption in marketing by developing the experiential perspective of competitive gaming (23).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Direction of Promoting Esport Industry in Thailand

et al. 2021

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Direction of Promoting Esport Industry in Thailand

et al. 2021

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“…There seems to be various evidence that esports sponsorships may lead to an improved brand image (Freitas et al, 2020). However, there have also been some signs of the exact opposite (Freitas et al, 2019).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sponsoring Esports to Improve Brand Image

Freitas

Espinosa

Correia

2020

SAEB

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This research aimed to identify how esports sponsorships affect the sponsors' brand image. An exploratory focus was adopted along with a convergent-parallel mixed method with equal status. Twenty-two experts in esports sponsorships were interviewed and 5,638 esports fans were surveyed. Quantitative data was processed on SPSS 25 and qualitative data on NVivo 10. The two data sets were analysed separately from one another, but the results were interpreted together and given the same level of importance. The results showed that all experts believe that sponsoring esports can positively affect the sponsors' brand image and roughly one-third of fans perceive more positively a small number of brands as a result of them sponsoring esports. This image improvement is, however, dependent on multiple variables, including activation strategy, brand type, and target audience. The findings are relevant for academics and companies looking to better understand the brand image effects of sponsoring esports.

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“…Esports' popularity is making its sponsors reap significant ROIs (Freitas et al, 2020), especially increased brand awareness (Str€ oh, 2017). Market studies have reported that there were 495 million esports fans in 2020 (Newzoo, 2020a;Statista, 2020) and that this number is increasing roughly 10.4%-12.3% per year (Newzoo, 2020a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, while the 2014 Football World Championship match between Germany and the USA was watched by 1.7 million people on ESPN (CGC Europe, 2015), the Katowice Intel Extreme Masters esports tournament was viewed by 46 million people on Twitch and YouTube (Statista, 2018). Esports sponsors are also benefiting from increased sales (Winnan, 2016;Freitas et al, 2020). Studies have shown that the average esports fan, not only has a higher than average income (Str€ oh, 2017), but is also an early technological adopter, a compulsive buyer (Winnan, 2016) and a relevant influencer of his social circles' buying behavior (Str€ oh, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The importance of incorporating relevant-added value into esports sponsorships

Freitas

Espinosa

Correia

2021

JCMARS

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PurposeThis research aims to identify how important it is that brands incorporate relevant-added value into their esports sponsorships.Design/methodology/approachThis exploratory research applied a convergent-parallel mixed method with equal status. Data were collected by interviewing 22 experts in esports sponsorships and having 5,638 esports fans fill out an online survey. SPSS 25 was used to analyze quantitative data and NVIVO 10 to process qualitative data. Each dataset was analyzed separately and then compared with both having the same level of importance.FindingsThe results revealed that all experts considered the creation of relevant-added value as an essential strategy for successful esports sponsorships and the large majority of fans want sponsors to apply this tactic. Interestingly, while the experts mostly emphasized ways to directly benefit the fan-base, the fans prefer that sponsors focus on directly supporting the esports industry.Practical implicationsBrands should incorporate relevant-added value into their esports sponsorships as it greatly decreases fan resistance to the promotional message, catches the fans' attention and engagement much more easily, has a much higher probability of leading to high positive return on investments (ROIs) and makes for a much more cost-effective investment.Originality/valueThe field of esports sponsorships has received little academic attention and the results are highly significant and relevant for all current and potential esports sponsors looking to increase the effectiveness of their esports sponsorships.

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Identifying the pros, cons and tactics of eSports sponsorships: An integrative literature review

Cited by 7 publications

References 17 publications

The Direction of Promoting Esport Industry in Thailand

The Direction of Promoting Esport Industry in Thailand

Sponsoring Esports to Improve Brand Image

The importance of incorporating relevant-added value into esports sponsorships

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