Comparison of eSports and Traditional Sports Consumption Motives

With recognition of the need for studying eSports in this interactive digital communication era, this study explored 14 motivational factors affecting the time spent on eSports gaming. Using a sample of 515 college students and athletic event attendees, we further compared eSports game patterns to their non-eSport or traditional sport involvements (game participation, game attendance, sports viewership, sports readership, sports listenership, Internet usage specific to sports, and purchase of team merchandise). Multiple regression results indicated that competition and skill had a statistically significant impact on the time spent on eSports games while peer pressure had marginal significance. Related to the overall findings, developing tailored messages that drives consumption behaviors of target audiences to specific eSports games will provide a better chance for marketers to fulfill their strategic goals of increased purchasing and larger market shares. Understanding that the interest in competition and skill are critical to eSports gamers may influence marketers to focus on creating games and opportunities for gamers to compete against each other and give tangible rewards to the winner. The use of peer pressure may be another motivational factor for playing. Consequently, those marketing dollars could be spent more on the interactive nature of game design. The subsequent analysis on cross-validation check suggests that the results of the regression analysis could be generalized. (Contains 1 figure and 5 tables.)