The Spanish esports market: Let’s Play! 2021

Great interest and spear of regional development in the European ecosystem

The Spanish esports landscape is keeping its development and further, 2020 marked the guidelines that stretched in this year’s resolution. With a 49% penetration rate who have been exposed to esports content and a 31% of regular consumers among Spanish population between age 16 and 65, Spain is one of the European reference countries for electronic sports such as Poland, Germany or Italy. In addition, Spain strongly contributes to the development of the European esports regional ecosystem, with great push on the Spanish-speaking community.

International and base professional development at a regional scale

The Spanish esports ecosystem has been led by the League of Legends Regional League called “Superliga”, produced by Liga de Videojuegos Profesional (LVP) since 2014, when it was still called “Division de Honor”. There are certain movements on the rise around other productions of the LVP, such as “eLaLiga Santander”, the national professional “FIFA” competition that represents a virtual “LaLiga Santander”, or Valorant “Rising Series”, the first edition of the professional competition around to the new tactical shooter from Riot Games.

As shown, Spain has a diverse electronic sports ecosystem which is integrated into the regional development of these, from the foundations of competitive amateur, semi-professional to international competitions with the countries of the Iberian territory.

Furthermore, the development found in the amateur scene must be considered. GGTech, brings esports competition closer to national universities, with its Amazon University Esports format; and to the colleges with the IEsports. Also, they work hand to hand with Riot Games to bring the semi-professional circuit of League of Legends, called “Circuito Tormenta”, to the scene, Superliga’s second division.

The entry of new agents into this industry has been growing for some time, which, unfortunately, had been slowed down due to Covid-19. However, the announcement of personalities like, for example, Gerard Pique (FC Barcelona player) and Ibai Llanos – one of the most popular streamers in Spain and the world –to enter into the Superliga has shone the spotlight on the Spanish esports ecosystem.

More than half of Spanish esports consumers: under 40 and employed

The beginning transition from a B2B to a B2C esports ecosystem that comes after this pandemic scenario gives a promising outlook for the Spanish esports sector: 26% of the Spanish consumers between 16 and 65, have acquired products and services related to esports, compared to 17% in the previous year.

Many stakeholders are trying to change part of their business model in the recent time such us Team Heretics or Giants Gaming, but there are more changes yet to come.

Also, the Spanish esports audience is an interesting target to monetize. 80% of these consumers between 16 and 65-year-old, are employed with a medium-high monthly income (1,822€ on average compared to 965€ as the minimum interprofessional wage). To conclude, it must be said that the most regular consumers are especially young: 76% are under 40 – digital natives with a growing tendency to use new generation content channels.

Pandemic conditions boost the national landscape, but more work needs to be done.

Due to Covid-19, the Spanish esports ecosystem had a cooling down in terms of revenue generation. However, during this period, esports could increase the audience, as 53% of the Spanish audience started to watch esports after the implementation of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Additionally, more than half of existing esports consumers (55%) have increased their consumption during the pandemic.

The lack of physical events led to a loss of revenue related to ticketing and merchandise sales, compared to a strong growth in audience and consumer numbers on all digital sales channels (both for clubs and for content consumption). At this point, esports clubs had to shift their position to transition from a patron-based business model to monetizing their most die-hard fans and followers. Some of them had a great start and now hope to thrive in this type of business model which will be core for success in the time to come.

The European esports market

The 6th edition of the Deloitte study 'Let's Play! - The European esports market' focuses on the economically sustainable development of the European esports sector. The study was based on extensive consumer research and numerous expert opinions. In addition, there are 13 country profiles that outline the current state of the esports sector in different European markets

To download the full report, click here. For the individual country profiles, navigate via the map of Europe.