eSports Gamers Expected To Make More Than Professional Athletes
Jul 30, 2018, 12:00 AM | Updated: May 23, 2024, 10:02 am
Thanks to the popularity of video games, millions of people are flocking to watch eSports.
A new study by Ryerson University believes the popularity of eSports will result in an exponential growth of professional gamers and their salaries.
Researchers Louis-Etienne Dubois and Laurel Walzak back Ryerson’s claims by saying;
“Video games generate viewership at least on par with professional leagues.”
Traditional sports have already peaked, whereas eSports has only began it’s expansion.
The 2016 League of Legends tournament drew in 36 million viewers, passing the number of viewers for the 2016 NBA Finals by 5 million.
eSports is expected to have 276 million viewers, making it as big as the NFL. Goldman Sachs analysts noted that eSports monetization will reach $3 billion by 2022. The study also expects advertisers to be quiet invested in eSports because of it’s pull to a younger demographic.
Twitch gamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins makes $500k a month playing video games, generating a yearly salary of about $6 million.
That’s nearly the same amount that Yogi Ferrell got from the Sacramento Kings.