Factors influencing sponsor-recollection at virtual in-match advertising in professional eSports

Nearly no research regarding the effect of sponsoring and advertising on eSports spectators exists. Since the implemented advertising-methods differ greatly, research regarding other sports or televised events is not very applicable. Despite this about 59% of the estimated revenue of 1.1 billion Dollar in the eSports industry in 2019 consist of sponsoring and advertising revenue (newzoo (2019): Global esports market report, p. 25). This means companies on the one and organizer on the other hand have (nearly) no academic foundation for spending/revealing all this money, presenting a huge problem. This project aims to address the deficit of almost no existing research regarding sponsoring or advertising effectiveness in eSports on spectators, exploring the effect of a variety of different factors – personal (age, profession, personal attitudes…) and non-personal (position, time on screen…) – on the sponsor-recollection of virtual in-match advertising of professional eSport spectators. To achieve this, modified live- and VOD-stream-matches will be watched by probands without any hints regarding the topic of the follow-up survey. Afterwards, the data will be examined individually for every genre and thereafter for all data points combined using various statistical tests with the multiple linear regression analysis at its core. Possible effect-variables will be drawn from in-game-advertising as well as other media-related research such as print media, television and internet browsing. Findings will provide insight for sponsors regarding the strength of one of multiple working channels for their investments. ESport-stream providers, on the other hand, may find more functional ways of implementation and an academic base for sponsorship sales-cost besides viewer count.