Newzoo projects esports industry revenue to break $1 billion in 2021

The industry should see continued growth this year.
Photo by Hugo Hu via Riot Games

Newzoo expects the esports industry to have more than $1 billion in revenue for 2021 with additional growth in media rights and the livestreaming market, according to its Global Esports and Live Streaming Market Report.

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Posting the projected $1.084 billion mark this year would mean more than 14-percent growth for the esports industry, which saw $947.1 million in revenue last year.

Image via Newzoo

Newzoo also projects that a majority of that revenue will come from media rights and sponsorships as the livestreaming audience for esports grows. 

More than 75 percent of the projected revenue for esports, $833.6 million to be exact, is from media rights and sponsorships, according to Newzoo. Meanwhile, livestreaming is projected to grow by 10 percent.

Image via Newzoo

This projected growth comes after the COVID-19 pandemic caused jumps in viewership for endemic streaming platforms across the board. 

Image via Newzoo

Though Newzoo anticipates that there will be audience growth in streaming this year, the firm added that it “expect[s] stabilization once the pandemic subsides.” Newzoo has similar expectations for the esports-specific audience as well.


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Author
Max Miceli
Senior Staff Writer. Max graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a journalism and political science degree in 2015. He previously worked for The Esports Observer covering the streaming industry before joining Dot where he now helps with Overwatch 2 coverage.