El afianzamiento de los e-sports en pandemia, una oportunidad para las marcas

E-sports, an entertainment activity based on eGames competitions, have their core consumer niche in Generation Z. Previous studies (Stroh, 2017; Elasri-Ejjaberi et al., 2020) already pointed out a strong growth, but the outbreak of the pandemic has notably triggered the interest in this ecosystem. This research analyzes the consumption preferences of a sample of young university students, and to explore perceptions of the audiences towards sponsoring brands as well as the dynamics of the brands themselves in the e-sports ecosystem. The methodology combines quantitative and qualitative techniques. A carried out survey has made possible to quantify the consumption and evaluation of the users. Eight in-depth interviews to e-sports managers, sponsors, professionals from different types of advertising agencies and sports experts were held to confirm the data. This study reveals, firstly, that many brands are using e-sports as a test laboratory in their interaction with the generation Z, generally considered to be a native digital community with unique codes and premises. It also unveils the most important advertising challenges for the sector when trying to consolidate itself as a space for dialogue between brands and audiences. Largely, the strategies in this area could be exported to other territories in future studies.