Gamers First – How Consumer Preferences Impact eSports Media Offerings

ABSTRACT Since 2016, eSports has grown into a key sector of the media landscape. Yet, manystakeholders are challenged with managing the complexity of eSports media. Existing business model literature suggests that organizations can build competitive advantages by aligning strategy with consumer needs. This approach would aid in the task of eSports management, but current understanding of eSports consumers fails to provide actionable insight; it still being unclear how these consumers perceive value in traditional and digital media offerings or if these perceptions are homogenous. To better understand preferences, we conducted an exploratory survey of 200 gamers/eSports consumers and asked how they perceived traditional media offerings, digital media offerings, and perceptions on personal data; a critical asset to today’s ever more digitized landscape. Cluster analysis was used to segment respondents along a spectrum (low, semi, heavy) of engagement, measured by gaming participation and spectatorship. Next, we analyzed if perceptions were in fact consistent across these three levels of engagement. Through our work, we found eSports consumers are non-monolithic with segmentations having significant impact on perceptions of value for both traditional and digital media offerings. We further found that failure to consider consumer preferences can prevent eSports organizations from effectively operationalizing business strategies. Finally, we demonstrate that knowledge of consumers can be critical, and while eSports is an important platform for brands, audience nuances must be considered in order to properly manage this emerging industry.