Almost one-quarter of Irish adults stream esports – Pure Telecom survey

Pure Telecom, Ireland’s high-speed broadband and telecoms provider, has found that almost one-quarter (22%) of Irish adults watch or participate in esports, a form of competitive video gaming. The online research was carried out by Censuswide, on behalf of Pure Telecom, with 1,000 adults surveyed across Ireland.

As competitive leagues and tournaments for games such as League of Legends and Fortnite grow in popularity worldwide, Pure Telecom found the counties where esports are most popular. At 33% of the county’s adult population, Laois residents are the biggest streamers of esports in the country, followed by Dublin (29%) and Limerick (27%). Men are more likely to follow esports than women, with 34% streaming esports weekly compared to only 16% of women.

The survey also looked into the wider growth of online gaming in Ireland. More than one-third (36%) of Irish adults say they play video games that rely on internet connectivity. When it comes to time spent playing video games online, the average gamer spends six hours per week playing online, rising to 10 hours for Gen Z gamers (aged 16 – 22).

Pure Telecom’s research found that the majority of gamers use two or more devices for gaming and watching esports, with multi-device streaming demanding significant bandwidth. Fast upload and download speeds, as well as large amounts of data, are all required for online gaming, and 46% of online gamers indicated they would – or already do – pay more for their internet service to enable more effective online gaming.

Commenting on the findings, Paul Connell, CEO, Pure Telecom, said: “The esports community is huge in Ireland and the survey has helped to show the extent of this. The results also show the growing popularity of online gaming and esports amongst younger generations, pointing to this becoming one of the leading forms of entertainment in the near-future.

“Clearly the growth of competitive esports is a significant contributor to the demand for high speed broadband. We know that people who have faster broadband enjoy a significant advantage over those with slow speeds, especially in the highly popular first person shooter genre. We were really interested to see that almost half of Irish gamers are prepared to pay more for a better internet service to enable them to enjoy a better gaming experience. At Pure Telecom, we strive to provide every one of our customers with the best possible broadband connection available in their location.”