The growth of eSports in Latin America is driven by brands. Pepsi has been the last major company to join the League of Legends Latin American Leaguea region in which the gaming industry generated revenues of 7.2 billion dollars in 2021 (4% of the world total), which projects to reach 70 million viewers in 2022, which is consolidating with the professionalization of the industry and which is blurring the lines between video games, sports, music and popular culture.
Worldwide the eSports generated revenues of 175.8 billion dollars in 2021, led by 88.2 million from the Asia-Pacific region, according to data from the specialized firm newzoo. And although the Latin American market only represents 4%, it is seen as an important area of opportunity for companies due to its growth, the attraction it generates from audiences between 18 and 35 years old, and the cultural diversification it is acquiring.
This year, for the first time in 11 editions, a Latin American country will host the World Cup League of Legendsbetter known as Worlds (a contest that in 2021 had 22 participants from 11 regions and distributed 2.2 million dollars in prizes). RiotGamespublisher of the game, decided so because of the comforts that Mexico City offers: its proximity to being the headquarters of RiotGames in Latin America, having the Arena Artz specialized in eSportscommercial partners that will support the project and the closeness with the United States and Canada, countries that will host the most advanced phases of the tournament.
Among those partners is Pepsi. The soft drink brand found a great opportunity in the growing consumption of video games in the Latin American region and the impulse of the celebration of Worlds 2022 to associate with the Latin American League of League of Legends.
“We are a brand that seeks to improve the experiences of our consumers when they are acting within a passion. This alliance with RiotGames was born in a very organic way because we are seeing that the world of gaming, esports, music, pop culture is mixing and we have been building our brand equity (impact) for a long time through those passions that we see that our consumers have, be it global events, entertainment shows for some sporting event, with global celebrities and the time has come when we see that people are consuming this video game in an impressive way”, Carlo Espinoza said in an interview with El Economista , Marketing Director of Pepsi in Latin America.
The market of eSports is growing by leaps and bounds in Latin America, according to figures reported by Forbesin the case of the game RiotGames, in 2021 the Mexican league that organizes the competitions of this video game in the country (the Telcel Honor Division) grew 13% in accumulated unique viewers and 76% in minutes watched; the Golden League of Colombia welcomed Movistar as a sponsor and closed the year with 1.7 million accumulated unique viewers, 55% more than the previous period, and the young Volcano Discover League of Ecuador grew 21% in unique viewers compared to 2020. Likewise, in the Master Flow League of Argentina, the first Boca-River Superclásico in the history of esports was experienced, transferring the soccer rivalry to the Summoner’s Crack, the playing field of League of Legends.
According to figures from the specialized media Esports Baresports could reach 70 million viewers in Latin America by 2022. Newzoo, a consulting firm specializing in video games, pointed out that the esports industry eSports globally it reached more than 728 million viewers in 2021.
“We are seeing an intersection of pop culture (fashion, customs, food and even the most popular products such as movies and series from a certain era), music, sports and the world of gaming. We see that this group of people has evolved, of fans, and they are looking for new ways to reinvent this experience, there are concerts within these games, soccer matches that have more eyes than a real match, we are seeing global streamers that have huge audiences who sit down to watch. Putting all that information together tells us that something is happening naturally in the culture and we as a brand are trying to ally ourselves with pop culture. Pepsi is a dynamic brand that evolves with consumers, when we see that happening, we seek to be present on that path.”
the alliance of Pepsi with the League covers a year, in which he will be accompanying the video game League of Legends during the Apertura, Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), Clausura, and Worlds tournaments and will be present at the Pick and Ban phases of each match.
Another beverage giant that has become associated with the world of eSports it was Coca-Cola, which agreed to a multi-year partnership with Riot Games, focusing on mobile games League of Legends Wild Rift and Wild Rift Esports. In the same way, their alliance aims to improve the experience of fans.
Gaming in Latin America during 2021
- $7.2 billion in revenue
- 4% of the global market.
- 5.1% growth year over year.
- 289 million players.
- 10% of the players are in Latin America.
- 6.2% growth in players year over year.
kg