This segment tends to be younger men with a strong interest in sports generally
Esports fans are still a small minority among Britons, YouGov Profiles data shows. About one in fourteen people (7%) play video games competitively, while a similar number (7%) are viewers. Some 2% also say they coach esports, while 1% bet on it.
People who watch and/or play esports tend to be younger men – seven in ten (70%) are males aged 18 to 44. Two thirds (66%) are in social grade C2DE, which means they’re more likely to be in manual than professional occupations – a notably higher proportion than among the wider population (46%).
Esports fans generally enjoy sports more than the average person. Two thirds (64%) either say they follow them closely (39%) or describe themselves as sports mad (25%), which compares to respectively 11% and 20% of all Brits.
Esports fans are more likely than the general population to feel “bombarded by advertising” (75% vs 65%).
But they also tend to admit to being more receptive to ads than the average person. Half (50%) say advertising helps them choose products, while this is only true for about a third of all Britons (35%).
About a third (35%) also say they trust advertising on billboards and posters, which is higher than average among the public (20%).
