ESPORTS DEMOGRAPHICS: FANS SKEW MALE, SPEND MORE ON GAMES

A new report from analyst firm EEDAR breaks down the demographics of eSports fans — both those who participate in tournaments and just watch.

At 75 percent male, the eSports audience is more than 10 percent more likely to be male than the general PC game-playing population; they’re also a bit more likely to spend more on free-to-play titles.

The most popular game amongst audiences is League of Legends, and its genre, MOBA, is the most popular in eSports (EEDAR considers shooters like Counter-Strike GO and fighters like Super Smash Bros. the other two notable eSports genres.)

They play more and they pay more — and they’re most likely to buy in-game items of any eSports-related expenditure (which also includes things like event tickets or branded peripherals, per EEDAR’s definition.) Somewhat surprisingly, 40 percent are “unlikely” to attend real-life eSports events, despite their interest in the games.

The report was generated based on survey data of 2,000 respondents who played or watched an eSports-related title in the prior year.

The full report is available as a free download (registration required). We’ve embedded a few of the charts below, so you can get a finer-grained look at the data.