Despite the 9% decline in overall live-streaming hours watched over the last year, esports drew a 4.1% rise in viewers over the same period. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of esports viewership in Q2 was watched on Twitch, with the vast remainder taking to YouTube Gaming.
While you can undoubtedly attribute the downward trend to a post-Covid cooldown in online streaming, viewership still remains 97% higher than Q2 2019. YouTube Gaming proved to be the most resilient long-term host, with a 4.7% rise in hours watched during the last three months.
China’s esports industry recorded a total revenue of 75.99 billion yuan ($10.6 billion) in the first half of the year and expects further growth driven by the upcoming 19th Asian Games.
Today, China has around 487 million esports users. Major esports events will unleash the industry’s potential and drive further growth. The upcoming Asian Games will make the public better acquainted with esports and boost the global development of Chinese local game developers
Originally scheduled to take place in September 2022, the 2022 Asian Games were postponed to 2023 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, the games will be held in Hangzhou, China, between the 23rd of September and the 8th of October this year.
There will be seven esports events at the Asian Games: Arena of Valor Asian Games Version, Game for Peace Asian Games Version, League of Legends, Dota 2, Dream Three Kingdoms 2, FIFA Online 4 and Street Fighter 5. Most of the games enjoy a broad player base, and some of them have their own events at national, continental or even international levels.
According to a 2023 report on the development of esports in Asia, the global esports industry has embraced rapid development after esports became an official event of the Asian Games. The market-oriented esports industry is now receiving national-level guidance and is continuously expanding its consumption market.
Riot Games, known as the developer of League of Legends, has also announced that Shanghai will host one of its biggest esports events, Valorant Masters, in 2024.
