“What do energy drinks, luxury automobiles and razors have in common?” the company asked. “They’re all products prominently featured in e-Sports tournaments, and they’re among the first non-endemic brand categories to get involved in competitive video gaming sponsorship.”

The research found that favourability about all brand activity isn’t homogenous, with the least favourable types of brand activity being product placements within e-Sports programming and crowdsourcing programmes to raise prize money for e-Sports events.

Favourability also varies across product categories. The top ten brand categories tracked in Esport 24, Nielsen’s syndicated sponsorship tracking service for e-Sports tournaments, during the second quarter of 2017 were: energy drinks, fast food, headsets, PC tech, PC hardware, gaming PCs, gaming software, esports news and gaming chairs. Overall, 42% of e-Sports brand sponsors were non-endemic during this time period.

Despite being ancillary to the actual gaming activity, however, research from Nielsen’s e-Sports Playbook reveals that the majority of  e-Sports fans in the US, UK, France and Germany welcome brand involvement in tournaments, streams and events. In fact, less than 10% have a negative attitude about brand activity in e-Sports.