The rise of esports influencers in Southeast Asia and how brands can benefit 

The Southeast Asian market is witnessing a big boom in the esports industry, thanks to the growth of mobile gaming and the need to reduce work-from-home boredom. 

Gen Zers and millennials, especially, are indulging in mobile gaming due to the region's launch of 5G networks. In addition, people who work from home need at-home entertainment other than social media. So they turn to game platforms like Twitch and YouTube – the next social media channels where people socialize and watch entertaining content. 

According to research from Newzoo, the esports industry in Southeast Asia is the fastest-growing in the world, estimated to reach almost $72.5 billion in 2024 from $39.2 billion in 2021. 

Statistics like these are why several brands are jumping on the opportunity to take advantage of the esports hype. Small businesses and large corporations are looking for ways to set foot in the esports industry through sponsorships or partnerships. 

For example, KFC, the fastest-growing restaurant chain, has a naming rights deal with the Hong Kong-based esports organization, Talon Esports. According to the deal, KFC’s logo is shown on the Talon esports jersey. Also, the two brands will launch a line of co-branded streetwear in the coming years, enabling KFC to advertise their brand to the esports audience. 

At the same time, intending to reach a younger audience, Yamaha Motor has also signed a sponsorship deal with EVOS Esports, a professional esports organization in Indonesia. 
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How can brands benefit from esports influencer marketing? 

The esports space is filled with an enthusiastic audience that cheers and supports its favorite esports players. The esports fans are more than just spectators; they are participants! They don't just watch the matches; they participate by commenting on the gamer's gaming skills and interacting with others through the chat feature. 

Such an interactive space, actively vocal audience, and entertaining content are where influencer marketing can truly flourish. Therefore, brands in multiple sectors, including gaming, can benefit from partnering with esports influencers. 

Let's see how: 

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1. Esports influencers help reach new audiences 

In the vast world of social media, a brand can't reach its target audience through just one medium. For example, food influencers are a good choice for food companies to boost sales, but not every foodie on social media follows food content creators. 

Some foodies sit in front of their screens playing the next popular game for hours, craving a mid-game snack. This is the audience you really want to target. So if you collaborate with esports influencers, you have a chance to convert the foodie gamer consumers. 

Take inspiration from the two food giants Pizza Hut and Foodpanda. Pizza Hut Singapore joined ties with RSG, a professional southeast Asian esports company, in 2021 to create customized video content and engage communities. 

On the other hand, Foodpanda, a food delivery brand, partnered with One Esports in the same year to launch a docuseries about the One Esports Dota 2 Singapore Major held in march. The company aims to position its brand as the fastest food and grocery delivery app in Asia. 
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2. Esports influencers give access to a tight-knit community

The esports audience is passionate about gaming and the influencers they follow. The esports industry has a tight-knit community of gamers who can socialize and become friends with almost anyone anywhere in the world and interact with one another, play games, or bond over the criticism of a gamer's gaming skills. 

Gamers in the community trust each other's words and recommend stuff to each other to make their life easier. So, if one gamer is using your product, chances are they will recommend it to their peers, and people will be encouraged to buy from you.  

Brands can access the community to blast off their sales through the roof. And esports influencers are the key. With esports gamers, you can spread your brand message to the community and win their trust. 

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How to partner with esports influencers for campaigns? 

You don't have to be related to the esports industry to partner with the influencers and promote your brand. With a boom in the industry, both endemic and non-endemic brands are finding creative ways to partner with esports influencers. For example, Gillette, State Farm, T-mobile, Coca-Cola, and Mercedes Benz are doing a great job at collaborating with esports influencers to spread their brand message to their target audience. 

Here are the top 4 ways to collaborate with esports influences and leverage their fan base: 
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1. Sponsorships

Sponsorships are the most popular type of collaboration in the gaming and esports world. Brands like adidas, Nike, and other leading companies often sponsor either the esports organization or individual games for successful partnerships. 

Sponsoring an esports tournament means that the influencers will talk about your brand to the viewers throughout the game. 

You can also sponsor individual esports influencers and ask them to use our product while playing in the tournament or showcase your product on their personal social media channels, as Oakley did. 

Oakley is an American eyeglass and apparel company partnered with the Call Of Duty champion Seth Abner aka Scump. The company asked him to wear Oakley glasses while gaming and also posted a collaboration video on their YouTube channel under the #BeWhoYouAre. 
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You can be more creative with your campaigns if you want and sponsor esports influencers to create content around major sports events or the holiday season. Seeing your products being used by influencers around such events will boost awareness and encourage your audience to buy your product. Several brands partner with esports influencers before the black Friday sales to get the word out about their product, and when someone sees their favorite gamer using the product, they are tempted to buy it.
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2. Gaming team partnerships

Another successful method of using esports influencers is partnerships. Brands like BMW, Hisense, and L'Oréal often partner with streaming platforms or esports organizations to advertise their products to leverage esports influencer marketing. 

Take a look at Gillette's Gaming Alliance campaign. Every year, Gillette partners with Twitch and creates a team of professional players selected from different countries to represent the brand and create content for millions of gamers. The campaign allows the brand to create authentic content for a younger demographic. 
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3. Giveaways 

Giveaway is the oldest trick in the book regarding esports marketing or influencer marketing in general. Giving away free products will get your customers excited about your brand and create a positive buzz.

To reach esports fans, you can organize social media giveaways with esports influencers. Or you can go one step further and organize offline giveaway events to drive traffic to your brick-and-mortar stores. This strategy works well around holiday shopping seasons like Christmas, Black Friday, and New Year. 
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4. Creative campaigns 

In the internet-savvy world, the audience is looking for authentic content that resonates with their values and connects them with others. So if you think going for direct advertising and sponsorships may not work for your brand, it's time to get creative. 

Instead of focusing on the endorsement and product, focus on your brand message and what drives your audience. Come up with ideas on how you can inspire or move your audience and then look for related creators. 

Benefits cosmetics and its YouTube series, Game Face, is the best example of this strategy. Their YouTube series with Gen G esports highlights the struggles and hardships of female gamers within the gaming community. They joined the conversation as a brand that understood this and built an authentic emotional connection with the audience. 
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Top 5 esports influencers in Southeast Asia to follow

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1. Cheryl Allison Instagram - @Cherzinga [61.7k followers]
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Cheryl Allison is a Singaporean professional esports player who is vocal about authentic gaming content created by women players. Allison is a popular gaming personality and is a part of the female Valorant team - @wildfiresphinx. With 61.7k followers, she is an avid social media content creator who collaborates with brands for promotions. Her brand partnerships include Pandora, Pomelo Fashion, Fenty Beauty, McDonald's Singapore, and more. 
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2. Tobias Justin YouTube - @JessNoLimit [24.9m subscribers]
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Tobias Justin, popularly known as Jess No Limit, is an Indonesian gamer and an esports superstar in the Southeast Asian community. He started gaming in 2017 and has amassed almost 25 million subscribers on YouTube since then. The player is also active on his Instagram channel, engaging with his 7 million followers and posting interesting branded and non-branded content, including snippets from his personal life, brand mentions, reels, and more. 
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3. Maureen Gabriella Instagram - @btr_alicee [2.3m followers]
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Maureen Gabriella is a professional PUBG mobile player and live streamer. Gabriella was one of the most searched PUBG mobile players in 2020 and became the brand ambassador of Bigetron Esports in 2021. She is a widely recognized female esports influencer who connects with a female gaming audience. She has over 2 million followers on her Instagram page, where she creates authentic content, including personal life snippets and brand promotions with Redmi, Xiaomi, GoPay, and the likes. 
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4. Olivia Gosandra YouTube - @OliviaGosandra [3.4m subscribers]
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Olivia Gosandra is yet another esports influencer in Indonesia, with more than 3 million subscribers on YouTube and 725k followers on Instagram. She is also an active TikTok creator who posts viral gaming content. On her YouTube channel, Gosandra creates content like vlogs, gaming, reviews, prank videos, and challenges. She has been creating gaming content since 2018 and works with brands to promote theory products on her YouTube channels. To date, she has collaborated with brands like Pringles, Vivo, ShopeePay, Nissin Foods, Lenovo, GrabFood, and more such companies. 
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5. Anucha Jirawong Twitch - @jabzdota2 [48k followers] 
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Anucha Jirawong, Jabz is a Thailand-based professional DOTA2 player for Fnatic, an esports organization. The player has more than 48k followers on Twitch, where he live streams gaming content. He started playing in 2013 and is now a professional gamer. His esports company Fnatic is sponsored by big brands like ASOS, L'oreal, Hisense, BMW, and more. 

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Picking the right esports influencer for a successful campaign

The success of an influencer marketing campaign is determined by the talent of the creator you pick. An influencer with close connections with the audience generates higher engagement rates and has convincing power over followers. But finding such creators, let alone collaborating with them, is challenging for most marketers, especially in the rapidly growing Southeast Asia region. 

A practical solution to this problem is data-driven influencer marketing – using rich and valuable data to find creators, manage campaigns and measure the results. affable.ai is an influencer management platform that helps run data-driven campaigns with access to rich creator insights like engagement rates, audience analytics, brand affinity, fake follower percentage, and more. The platform allows you to find and connect with experienced creators who understand your brand. 

To learn more about the affable.ai influencer management platform, book a free trial with our experts today! 

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