League of Legends is 12th in the most marketable sports properties list.
This might not come as a surprise as the worlds most popular esports has previously broken record number of views consistently.
Meanwhile, FIFA World Cup has been named as Most Marketable Sports property globally. The Indian Premier League (IPL) has been placed at No. 38th in the World’s 50 most marketable sports properties list.
A recent study found that the League of Legends European Champion (LEC) has a higher Average Minute Audience (AMA) than sports such as tennis, basketball and rugby union for those aged between 16 and 29.
“The LEC has been growing double digits for the last six semesters. Year on year,” Alban Dechelotte, head of business development EU at Riot, the game’s publisher told CNN.
Viewers of the game also tend to be from a specific demographic; namely young, single men at either high school or college.
This did not occur overnight. The formation and evolution of sport as a product has facilitated sky-rocketing values of professional sport properties; to the extent that competitive play between the actual players/teams is only a piece of the puzzle.
Companies like Valve and Riot are, at their core, software companies. Yes, they live and breathe gaming but the marketing and media aspects of growing an eSport product doesn’t clearly overlap.
The World’s 50 Most Marketable Properties list is powered by SponsorPulse’s Opportunity Score – one universal currency that allows decision makers to instantly compare properties based on seven key metrics: engagement, intensity, momentum, passion, excitement, purchase consideration, and favourability.
World Most Marketable Sports Properties :
1) FIFA World Cup
2) Summer Olympics
3) NBA
4) Real Madrid
5) FC Barcelona
6) Winter Olympics
7) UEFA Champions League
8) UEFA European Championships
9) Manchester United
10) Premier League
11) Liverpool
12) League of Legends
13) FIFA Women’s World Cup
14) Formula 1
15) LA Lakers
16) Manchester City
17) LaLiga
18) Juventus
19) NFL
20) Inter Milan
21) WWE
22) AC Milan
23) FIBA Basketball World Cup
24) Serie A
25) World Table Tennis Championships
26) Chelsea
27) Chicago Bulls
28) FC Bayern Munich
29) Wimbledon
30) US Open
31) WTA Tour
32) Australian Open
33) ICC Cricket World Cup
34) Arsenal
35) ATP
36) Paralympic Games
37) Bundesliga
38) Indian Premier League
39) Atletico Madrid
40) UFC
