Major League Gaming research shows a connected fan base

Fans of competitive video gaming are active, engaged consumers with a wide range of personal interests, according to new research commissioned by Major League Gaming.

The data, scheduled to be released today, follow a similar path as consumer research released in November by the Fantasy Sports Association on the fantasy sports industry. In each instance, the goal was to paint a more detailed picture to corporate sponsors of the fans who were embracing the quickly growing industry.

Unlike fantasy sports, however, this new work, conducted by Sponsorship Research International, represents perhaps the first major research looking specifically at the competitive video-gaming landscape.

SRi’s work was conducted in October through more than 1,000 in-depth online interviews of visitors to MLG’s Web site, mlgpro.com. Among the findings:

MLG says the survey paints its
fans as “lifestyle leaders.”

66 percent of respondents belong to some type of social club, group or team.

85 percent went to see movies in the first two weeks of release compared with 73 percent in another study of teen behavior from Mediamark Research International.

78 percent followed the presidential election, and 70 percent of those age 18 and older planned to vote in it.

79 percent agreed with the statement, “If forced to make a decision, I would choose to give up TV before video games.”

MLG’s sponsorship profile also scored well in the SRi research. Unaided recall of Dr Pepper’s affiliation was 84 percent, and unaided recall of Stride’s was 64 percent, both above sponsorship industry norms that often hover below 50 percent. In addition, 86 percent agreed with the statement, “When I try something new, I tend to share my opinion about it with friends,” also in excess of teen behavior chronicled in the outside Mediamark research.

The average age of survey respondents was 17.8. The average age of the MLG’s audience is 23.

“There have been some other studies that have also looked to bust the myth of video gamers as simply isolated basement-dwellers, but what we’re seeing here is that these fans are even more of lifestyle leaders,” said Matthew Bromberg, MLG president and CEO. “What we’re seeing here is a true level of hyper-engagement and connectedness among this group, so having a detailed story to tell about that is another important step.”

The work was a high priority of Harlan Stone, who joined MLG in September from Velocity Sports and Entertainment and leads the property’s sales and sponsorship efforts. The research also arrives just as MLG last week closed on a $7.5 million round of venture capital financing from Oak Investment Partners, a longtime backer. MLG overall has raised $42.5 million in funding and enjoys a solid position in its space, as its key competitors in full-time gaming leagues have died off.

MLG attracts more than 5 million visitors monthly to its various online gaming and content initiatives.

“The level of association with the key sponsors in particular really jumped out at us. That’s something you simply don’t see a lot of,” said Jeff Eccleston, SRi vice president.