Unbelievable Truths
just some numbers...
18,000,000
Number of Koreans who love e-Sports
120,000
Number of e-Sports fans on hot summer Kwang-An-Li beach
432
Number of Pro-gamers leading Korea e-Sports
520,906
Number of pro-gamer SLayerS_'BoxeR‘ fan club
members
5,000,000,000
Number of people around the world who can
enjoy Korea e-Sports’ future
Do you know what KeSPA is ?
just the facts...
■ Korea e-Sports started 10 years ago
■ KeSPA established in 2000 with the approval of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Korea
■ KeSPA contributed to the settlement of Korean e-Sports as a sound leisure culture for youth life
and coordinating among various e-Sports actors
■ KeSPA carried out as a representative e-Sports organization in Korea
How its organized?
Early KeSPA history
First KeSPA inauguration
- 21C Progamer Association established
- Hanbit Soft Co.,Ltd. took the Chief of KeSPA
- Ministry of Culture, Sports & Truism Korea
approved "progamer registration system"
- Select 9 official games
Second KeSPA inauguration
- SK Telecom took the new Chief of KeSPA
- United ‘Pro-league’ started
- Official referee dispatched
- 1st KeSPA CUP ‘KTF-Bigi Korea e-Sports 2006’
- Contract ‘e-Sports revitalization M.O.U’ with
Korea Game Industry Agency
- Opened “Yong-San e-Sports Stadium”
■ After 2001, e-Sports stepped into the growth period and the numbers of gamers dramatically increased
■ ‘Games’ & ‘e-Sports’ settled down as a representative youth culture code, which enjoyed by half of Korean
■ Everyday, Korean game users spend more than 1 hour on KeSPA official games at PC Room.
■ Among the games playing at PC Room, KeSPA official games occupy more than 50%.
Current e-sport status
e-sport are the second most watched sport program on TV just behind the football
■ After ‘the pro-gamer registration rule’ in 2000, the number of pro-gamers have been increased by 16.3% annually
■ Now 432 pro-gamers registered in 23 official games
■ ‘Pro-gamer’ became the most favored job among the youth and the number got more than double
■ Around 15 top pro-gamers receive more than USD 0.1 mil as their annual salary (Except for prize money)
Average annual salary of pro-gamers is estimated around USD 20,000
■ 12 Pro-game Teams are participating in the e-Sports League “SHINHAN Bank pro-league 2008” now (11 Company and 1 Military team)
■ Due to the increased recognition of pro-gamer, direct participation of each company in e-Sports field increased through game team establishment
■ Due to the growth of companies’ participation, the operation of league became larger and professional
World’s First e-Sports Stadium
■ In 2005, the world’s first e-Sports dedicated stadium was opened
■ The stadium have been contributed to sound e-Sports leisure cultures
Name I’PARK mall e-Sports Stadium
Size 102.2 m2, Main Stadium –around 500 seats, Small stadium -64 players seats
Utilize Use for e-Sports regular tournaments and preliminary (small stadium) etc
e-Sports media coverage
■ Two e-Sports CATV (Ongamenet, MBCgame) broadcast e-Sports content 24 hours everyday
and many other CATV channels try to broadcast e-Sports content
■ Papers and reports for e-Sports increased annually, now 40 major ‘e-Sports press association’ cover everyday
■ New media competitively joined to cover e-Sports
- GOM TV(’06), DMB(’06), Hana TV(’07), online portal (DAUM ’07. NAVER ’07), Pandora TV(’07), Afreeca(’08) etc.
- Especially, 99.4 mil people watched Pro-League in last year(2007) with New Media.
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Korea e-Sports PR & Marketing – CASE STUDY
SHINHAN BANK Pro League 2007
■ CATV AD Value : USD 203 mil (Total view rating 1R 0.736, 2R 1.096)
■ New Media AD Value: USD 4.3 mil (Total view numbers 99,446,846)
■ Media Coverage : USD 9.4 mil
Total PR Value of Pro League in last year reached USD 216.7 mil
■ Diverse merchandising products are being released – card, diary, e-Sports PC, computer accessories etc.
■ Major sports wear companies support pro-game teams uniform (ADIDAS, Lecaf, FILA, Teddy bear, HEAD)
■ Joint business – pro-gamer official dental clinic agreement with White Style Dental Clinic, official drink etc.
Source : Korea e-Sports Association/ May. 2008