While COVID-19 has brought entire world including sports business to an unprecedented halt, Mobile Gaming industry is tipped to be the biggest gainer with the emergence from the menace of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
According to a GroupM ESP report, Mobile Gaming industry will be the biggest gainer in the post Covid-19 era.
The report further reveals that there has been a 20% increase in the monthly active Mobile Gaming users during the lockdown in India. The daily average sessions are going up from 30 min to 45 min. Besides, the frequency of these sessions has been increasing to 5-7 per day as against 3 sessions during the pre-Covid-19 period, states the report.
“In a parallel world, esports has been trying to emulate traditional sports for some time now to reach a larger and more mainstream audience. It had already become a billion-dollar industry pre-Covid 19 pandemic with tournaments witnessing arenas filled with screaming fans and sponsors increasingly injecting monies in the ecosystem globally. With the lockdown in place and millions forced to stay at home; esports has shifted to online format filling up the void for many of the LIVE sports’ hungry fans worldwide,” states an excerpt from the report published by exchange4media.com.
The report further says – the overall Sports Sponsorship market in India has crossed the mark of ₹ 9,000 crore for the first time. Sports sponsorship industry in India has been growing at a CAGR of 12.8% over the last 10 years, with the overall Sports Sponsorship market in India crossing the mark of ₹9,000 crore for the first time, states the report on the business of Indian Sports in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.
With most of the sports tournament either cancelled or indefinitely postponed, the year on year growth or estimation for year that was done pre Covid-19 will not hold true, the report added.
The report further says: “Once the dust around Covid-19 settles down, sports will play a pivotal role in helping fans deal with the emotional stress, post-pandemic trauma and give people at large reasons to look forward to.”
Google last year had predicted the Indian gaming industry to cross $1 billion mark by 2021.