Social media tracking company MVPindex is revealing today that it is moving into esports with a social media that will track, measure, and value the social impact of esports.
Esports is reaching an estimated 385 million viewers globally and generating $696 million in revenue in 2017, according to market researcher Newzoo.
The company will track 2,500 esports leagues, tournaments, teams, players, and games across leading social platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. And they are unveiling for the first time their ranking of players, personalities, and team as measured on a number of platforms.
In the inaugural MVPindex esports rankings, one team dominated the charts: FaZe Clan. And FaZe Rug, a former Call of Duty esports star, had the biggest social media presence.
Dallas-based MVPindex said it will create a custom esports social media valuation dashboard. It uses its own proprietary technology, which tracks fan engagement and analyzes both activation and sponsorship performance in real time.
“Brands are already investing in esports with in-game content, but our index also shows there are huge levels of engagement around lifestyle content with esports celebrities and influencers,“ said Kyle Nelson, cofounder and chief marketing officer of MVPindex, in a statement. “Our new esports index can help (brands) navigate the rapidly changing esports digital landscape and understand the true ROI they’re getting from their activations and sponsorships.”
MVPindex divides esports into five distinct roles by game genre: fighting, first-person shooter (FPS), multiplayer online battle Arena (MOBA), sports, and strategy.
The MVPindex score measures three variables: reach, engagement, and conversation. Scores are displayed as a normalized scoring range between 0.00 and 1.00, and are measured relative to the other entities in their respective categories.
FaZe Rug has a score of .998, and FaZe Clan is #1 among esports teams with a score of .989.
FaZe Rug, although not a current player, is still a social media powerhouse with nine of the top 10 posts.
This esports influencer and content creator generated 10.3 million engagements on social – 4.6 million more than the next closest player, teammate FaZe Adapt. FaZe Rug also dominates on YouTube with more than 1.5 million more subscribers than the next closest player and 88.2 million views, 60 million more views than any other esports player or personality.
FaZe Clan’s team handles are No. 2 on Twitter and No. 1 on both Instagram and YouTube, with 1.4 million and 3.1 million more followers than their next closest competitors respectively. While Natus Vincere leads all teams in engagements across all platforms, FaZe Clan received the most engagements on YouTube – a dominant platform for esports.
MVPindex said another player to watch is 20-year-old João “felps” Vasconcallos who debuts at No. 7 on the list. Garnering nearly 2 million engagements, the Brazilian professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) player has earned more than $700,000 this year alone.
Brand investment in esports is expected to be more than $500 million this year alone and surpass $1.5 billion by 2020, according to Newzoo. While traditional sports are showing an increase in average audience age, the esports audience is young, digital and global – they live online and on social media.
Shawn Spieth, father of pro golfer Jordan Spieth, cofounded MVPindex in 2014 to focus on sports athletes and entertainers to calculate their brand value. It has real-time analytics on more than 65,000 people, teams, leagues, and brands.