Esports and Sponsorship: A Rising Market
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In 2024, esports competitions generated $2.34 billion in revenue across all games, transforming the discipline from an experimental playground into a true opportunity space for brands. However, succeeding in this universe goes beyond simply displaying a logo on-screen: communities are young, passionate, and discerning. They expect brands to bring real value, actively participate in the gaming experience, and embrace the culture of play.
In this Insight:
Today, esports sponsorship has become a strategic lever, enabling brands to create immersive experiences, launch engaging digital campaigns, establishing a lasting presence in a constantly evolving ecosystem. Understanding this dynamic explains why esports is no longer a marginal marketing opportunity but a platform where creativity, performance, and audience converge.
A Competitive Landscape Defined by Iconic Games
League of Legends: The Global Benchmark
A true cornerstone of competitive gaming, League of Legends has drawn tens of millions of viewers annually to its World Championships since 2011. The legendary South Korean team T1, led by Faker, holds a record five world titles, symbolizing historical dominance. In Europe, the LEC (League of Legends EMEA Championship) stands as the premier league, with the French scene growing rapidly through teams like Karmine Corp and Team Vitality.
Beyond the action, LoL serves as a privileged platform for brands and a marketing innovation lab. Partnerships like KitKat x LFL and Senseo x EMEA Masters, executed with SPORTFIVE, illustrate how brands can integrate into the gaming world authentically and engagingly. These activations demonstrate that esports sponsorship is both a narrative and experiential lever, far beyond mere visibility. SPORTFIVE leverages its strategic expertise and deep community knowledge to design tailor-made experiences combining storytelling, data, and gaming culture, helping brands become legitimate, inspiring actors capable of building authentic connections with new generations of fans.
Rocket League: Where Sport and Spectacle Collide
Accessible, spectacular, and intense, Rocket League appeals to both players and brands. Since 2015, the Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS) has crowned the world’s best teams annually in a dynamic and highly broadcast format.
In 2024, Volkswagen made a major move by partnering with the FFF to create France’s first official Rocket League team - a natural intersection of automotive and football worlds. Alongside SPORTFIVE, the brand deployed an ambitious activation blending storytelling, events, and digital engagement: a scripted reveal at Clairefontaine, presence at Paris Games Week with Xbox, dedicated content for the World Cup, and a fan contest offering exclusive experiences.
This 360° strategy marked Volkswagen’s successful entry into esports, establishing the brand as an emblematic team partner and generating over 18 million impressions and 277K engagements on published content a creative, legitimate, and fully integrated presence in Rocket League culture.
To learn more, discover Volkswagen's Success Story
Multiple Expression Platforms
Games like Fortnite, Valorant, and EA Sports FC further expand brand opportunities. With their hybrid nature (sport, entertainment, lifestyle), they provide direct access to engaged communities. The Intersport x EA Sports FC campaign, orchestrated by SPORTFIVE, is a prime example: an immersive activation capable of generating passion even without official partnership. Intersport strengthened its presence in the digital sport ecosystem through exclusive in-game jerseys, prominent stadium placements, and a global community contest. The activation extended to physical stores with tournaments, in-store activations, and the launch of the new Intersport Football Store, reflecting a strategy that creates hybrid experiences bridging physical and digital worlds. This integrated approach positions the brand as a central actor connecting sport, gaming, and fan passion.
Why Esports Works: A Unique Mix of Innovation and Emotion
Esports thrives on a unique alchemy of performance, creativity, and emotion. Its athletes embody values of excellence, determination, creativity, and teamwork that resonate with younger generations. For brands, it offers an exceptional experimental playground for interactive, digital, and social activations with high engagement potential. Global players like Red Bull, Nike, and Logitech invest heavily, supporting teams, players, and worldwide events. The 2024 Worlds reached 6.94 million concurrent viewers, a record highlighting the sector’s immense appeal.
Twitch: Transforming Esports into a Global Spectacle
Twitch is the beating heart of esports culture, where communities, storytelling, and iconic moments are created. It has become the central channel for broadcasting, activation, and engagement. In 2025, Twitch confirmed its dominance: according to Stream Hatchet, esports content generated 729 million hours watched in Q2 alone - a figure demonstrating the platform’s massive pull.
This growth stems from Twitch’s live-interaction design: every match becomes a living event, co-created by viewers. This participatory format turns broadcasts into communal experiences, impossible to replicate through traditional media. Major competitions on Twitch reach audiences rivaling the largest sporting events, offering brands an organic, authentic, and conversational environment to integrate seamlessly. As esports professionalizes, Twitch also boosts the visibility of teams and players, serving as a major lever for monetization, storytelling, and community building. Iconic moments of leading French teams are followed by hundreds of thousands of fans, strengthening loyalty to organizations and maximizing partnership impact.
This dynamic has birthed a new form of media power: influencer-driven teams capable of mobilizing massive audiences through competition and creators who themselves become influential figures.
French Teams: Models of Performance and Influence
France’s esports scene is now one of the most dynamic worldwide. Team Vitality has become an international benchmark, combining competitive excellence with clear brand building. Gentle Mates (M8) represents a new generation blending competition, lifestyle, and content creation, redefining sector norms. The club also stands out with original partnerships, such as a co-branded clothing line with Lacoste that merges sports heritage with urban style, demonstrating M8’s ability to extend its influence beyond esports.
In just a few years, Karmine Corp has revolutionized fan engagement with events like KCX, filling arenas like Paris La Défense Arena and generating unparalleled enthusiasm in French esports. Its success illustrates the power of a strategy that goes beyond performance: engaging, storytelling, and creating a true culture around the team. Karmine Corp has mobilized major partners including Orange, Michelin, CIC, and Célio, integrating them naturally into the club’s universe through immersive digital content, exclusive fan experiences, and spectacular physical events. Each partnership becomes an opportunity to co-create value and strengthen community engagement while aligning with one of France’s most influential and innovative esports teams.
French organizations also leverage renowned influencers and creators to mobilize large, engaged communities on Instagram, Twitch, and YouTube, amplifying activation impact and brand visibility. Success in French esports now depends not only on gameplay but on building a universe, fostering a community, and delivering unique experiences.
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Towards Global, Multi-Platform Strategies
Brands are now adopting integrated, multi-platform approaches, engaging across multiple games, teams, and leagues to maximize impact. Red Bull is a prime example: present across League of Legends, Rocket League, and CS2, the brand has built a global esports strategy where each activation reinforces its DNA within a coherent narrative.
For French brands, this approach represents a major strategic opportunity: partnering across competitive universes ensures visibility, builds authentic relationships with young, engaged communities, and enables activations beyond mere logo placement - including exclusive content, co-branded products, digital campaigns, and immersive experiences generating measurable engagement.
This type of strategy creates a win-win ecosystem: teams and leagues gain stable resources and innovative tools to expand their reach, while French brands strengthen their image, access new audiences, and embed themselves within esports culture. Esports is an ecosystem where brands find engagement and recognition, teams achieve professionalization, and fans enjoy ever more enriching experiences aligned with their content consumption habits. The alliance between sponsorship and esports represents the future of marketing: more creative, connected, and emotional. At SPORTFIVE, we help brands design and deploy strategies that shape this future.
