A new study by Juniper Research suggests a tenth of the global population, or 858 million people, will be watching games content by 2022.
That’s an increase on the predicted 630 million viewers in 2018.
Juniper has reached the figure by combining the predicted unique viewers of esports (competitive playing of video games) and what it calls ‘let’s play content’ (tutorials and talk-throughs of game content).
It says the growth in viewership will be driven by a surge in popularity of Battle Royale titles, where gamers take part in a ‘last-man standing’ format.
Juniper also suggests the popularity of Fortnite tournaments is likely to drive substantial growth in the ‘let’s play’ viewership; exceeding 12 billion hours on YouTube alone, as players seek to hone their skills.
