E-sports viewers doubled to over 70 million in 2013 — and they tend to be young men, married, and have steady jobs

Just how big are e-sports now? Over the last four years, worldwide viewership of online competitive gaming has increased eightfold.

This is one of many stats in a joint report from SuperData Research and Newzoo that show the powerful momentum behind the growth of e-sports. In 2013, global viewership doubled year-over-year to more than 70 million. Nearly half of that number came from the U.S., where free-to-play games have enjoyed rapid growth since the start of the decade. For example, League of Legends is a free-to-play online strategy game and has become a huge e-sports phenomenon, with over 32 million viewers tuned in to its Season 3 World Championship last October.