a surge in traffic<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, as obvious alternatives for sports fans and gamblers.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAn analyst at Niko Partners Southeast Asia said 61.7 per cent of Chinese claimed they were watching more esports than before, while 63.9 per cent said they were playing more. China is already the world\u2019s largest market, with revenue from mobile and PC-based gaming forecast to hit $16.6 billion this year, AGB reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Malaysia, viewing for Facebook Gaming rose 87 per cent in April, and in India, Gamerji daily users went from 12,000 – 15,000 to 40,000 – 50,000, and Paytm\u2019s user base tripled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the question remains whether betting platforms should now dedicate more investment to boost and promote esports. The panel believed there was a unique opportunity to grow users from the existing limited base, but that recent growth was not sustainable in the long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The forecast is that bettors will now return to regular sporting events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Analysts argue that esports was already a strong and expanding market before the pandemic, but one which has a very different demographic from the traditional sports betting market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means it requires a different approach from companies, rather than simply tagging esports onto an existing sportsbook offering using the same marketing techniques. The esports player is a coveted, but hard to target demographic, more inclined to follow games online than on traditional broadcast channels, or in print media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most fans are between 21 and 35 years old, and 53 per cent are in the higher-income bracket, according to Newzoo research. About 65 per cent are likely to be in full-time employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gaming companies are not always able to invest the resources to target this niche, which could mean diverting money and attention from their core businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regulations also pose a challenge, especially in Asia, and criteria still needs to be established on limits and cheating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Betting companies are still questioning whether to invest time and the segment or if it’s a bubble waiting to burst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The iGaming sector is assessing the sustainability of the esports betting surge observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, with industry leaders suggesting it was a temporary \"bubble\" unlikely to persist as traditional sports return. While a distinct, high-value demographic exists, operators face challenges in specialized marketing, dedicated investment, and navigating evolving regulatory frameworks, particularly in Asia.","focusai_entities":"Asia Gaming Brief, Niko Partners Southeast Asia, Gamerji, Paytm, Newzoo","focusai_location":"China, Malaysia, India, Asia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.75), compliance_legal (0.8), operator_casino (0.95), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.8), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Esports Investment ROI","query":"Given the distinct demographic and specialized marketing requirements, what is the projected return on investment for dedicated esports betting platforms versus integrating it as an ancillary sportsbook offering?"},{"label":"Regulatory Harmonization Asia","query":"How are iGaming operators and regulators in Asia collaborating to establish consistent governance frameworks and integrity protocols for esports betting, particularly concerning betting limits and anti-cheating measures?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[155],"tags":[12536,229,233],"class_list":["post-7255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-betting-news","tag-esports","tag-gambling","tag-sports-betting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7255"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7281,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7255\/revisions\/7281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}