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41% of Esports Fans Would Pay for a Subscription, Says Parks

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Charting the growth of esports, research company Parks Associates says that 41 percent of esports fans report they would pay for a subscription to watch online events, and 39 percent would pay on a per-event basis. That's going to grow into a huge profit center, as Parks also found that 10 percent of households with broadband connectivity watch esports, while 62 percent of those households play video games at least one hour each week.

Creating a profile of the typical epsorts fan, Parks says it's a technically-savvy male under 35-years-old. Fans of esports average $47.23 per month on non-pay TV video entertainment, compared to $22.97 for those who aren't esports fans.

"Esports is a young, dynamic, and fast-growing industry. While viewership of many traditional sports is waning, esports is well positioned to capture the attention of a generation that grew up playing video games," says Hunter Sappington, a research analyst for Parks Associates. "Esports is currently a niche market, but it has the ability to engage often hard-to-reach demographics."

Parks finds 61 percent of esports fans watch on YouTube and 45 percent watch on Twitch. Most view esports on more than one platform. Desktop computers are the preferred viewing tool for 67 percent of fans. This data comes from the report Digital Natives: The Rise of Esports, available for purchase.

Last month, Goldman Sachs forecast that esports will have 300 million viewers by 2022, roughly the number that follow the NFL today.

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