I looked at how advertisers can utilize esports (competitive video games) to advertise and the perception of these communication messages in the eyes of attendees of Slovenian gaming events. After analyzing the theory and the current state of esports around the world and in Slovenia, I searched for answers to the research question through an empirical web survey sent exclusively to attendees of the largest esports event in Slovenia, EPICENTER 16. Quantitative analysis of 107 respondents finds that on average, all respondents have slightly positive sympathy to sponsors of events and they would prefer to buy a product from an advertiser at the esports event in question. Through non-hierarchical clustering, I grouped the respondents in three distinct groups - “Moderates”, “Enthusiasts” and “Focuseds”. Although the number of cluster members was small (N=57), they responded in accordance with expectations, although the small total sample size limits generalizations to a wider population. Further research on the field has to either be broader and try to empirically cover the whole esports ecosystem (teams, players, tournaments, leagues, developers, etc.), or be very focused and qualitatively analyze an aspect of the esports industry.
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