The Park Place Economist
Abstract
The purpose of this project is to investigate the types of companies that have historically been investing in esports sponsorships, and to examine the effects that heavy esports sponsoring can have on the financial success of a company. Esports is a large and rapidly growing industry, presenting many new opportunities for advertising. Applying the theory of the firm, this paper postulates that this recent success should be an indicator that companies involving themselves in sponsoring the esports industry should also be seeing financial success. Investigation of major sponsors found that historically mostly technology related companies have been involved, with some interest from non-endemic sponsors such as credit card companies and beverage companies. Empirical testing of the sponsors’ financial success involved creating an index of publicly traded companies heavily involved in esports sponsoring and comparing their average stock price changes to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The overall results do suggest a markedly higher increase in the stock price of the esports index over the Dow Jones.
Recommended Citation
Webb, Michael D. (2022) "History and Effectiveness of Sponsorships in Esports," The Park Place Economist: Vol. 29Available at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/parkplace/vol29/iss1/9