Esports: League of Legends beats IPL to become 12th most marketable sports property

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