Key insights
71% of gaming and esports fans would spend more if their money went directly to their favourite creator or streamer rather than through a platform.
Fan loyalty sits with the people and organisations they follow, not the platforms hosting them.
Platform reach and audience ownership are not the same thing. Every follower, transaction, and data point generated on Twitch or YouTube belongs to them, not you.
First-party data transforms a follower count into a commercial asset and changes the brand partnership conversation entirely.
The smartest move isn’t abandoning the platforms. It’s using them as the funnel and owning what comes through it.
The 71% number nobody’s acting on
We surveyed 1,500 gaming and esports fans across the UK, US, and Europe and found that 71% would spend more if they knew their money was going directly to their favourite creator or streamer rather than being swallowed by platform fees. Seven in ten fans are actively willing to spend more with the organisations they love. Fan loyalty sits with the teams and creators they follow, not the platforms hosting them, and every transaction routed through a third-party is money your fans were willing to give you directly, going elsewhere because the direct route doesn’t exist.
The plumbing problem is costing the industry millions.
What first-party data actually unlocks
In my experience working on creator partnerships, the organisations that walk into a brand meeting with confidence are the ones who know their community. It’s not about having the biggest audiences or follower count. When you have information like age, location, purchase behaviour, engagement patterns, the conversation changes completely.
First-party data turns a follower count into a commercial asset. It’s the difference between “we have 200,000 followers” and “we have 200,000 people, here’s what we know about them, and here’s how your brand fits into their lives.” One of those gets a polite nod. The other gets a deal.
The platform isn’t your enemy. It’s just not your asset.
Twitch, YouTube, TikTok are all brilliant platforms for reach, but they’re terrible for ownership. The algorithm gives and the algorithm takes away, the revenue split changes when it suits them, and the data you generate on their platform stays on their platform. That’s not a criticism, it’s just the deal you sign up for when you build on borrowed ground.
The smartest move isn’t abandoning the platforms. It’s using them as the top of the funnel and building something underneath. Direct memberships, owned registration flows, engagement mechanics that live inside their own ecosystem. Every fan who moves from a Twitch follower to a registered member of your own platform is a relationship you actually own, and a commercial conversation you can finally have with confidence.
Gaming has some of the most passionate, most commercially ready communities on the planet. The infrastructure to match that passion is catching up fast. The organisations moving now will have a significant head start on the ones who wait until the next platform changes the rules.
And trust me, they will change the rules.
FAQs
Gaming first-party data is the information an esports organisation or gaming creator collects directly from their audience, with consent, through their own channels. This includes details like age, location, purchase history, and engagement behaviour. Unlike platform data, first-party data is owned entirely by the organisation and can be used to inform commercial decisions, sponsorship conversations, and fan engagement strategies.
Most esports organisations build their communities on third-party platforms like Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok. While these platforms provide reach, the data they generate stays on the platform. Organisations can access limited demographic information through platform dashboards but cannot export or own it, which limits their ability to demonstrate audience value to brand partners or build direct commercial relationships with fans.
Esports audience ownership refers to an organisation’s ability to hold and use direct data about their fanbase, independent of third-party platforms. An owned audience typically sits within a proprietary app, membership platform, or CRM system where the organisation controls the relationship, the data, and the commercial opportunities that flow from it.
Brand partners increasingly require proof of audience quality, not just quantity. First-party data allows esports organisations to provide detailed audience profiles, including demographics, purchase behaviour, and engagement patterns, that justify sponsorship investment and open conversations about more sophisticated commercial arrangements beyond logo placements and social mentions.
A Twitch follower is an audience member whose relationship exists on Twitch’s terms. If the platform changes its algorithm, revenue split, or terms of service, that relationship is affected. An owned fan is someone who has registered directly with your organisation, given their consent to be contacted, and whose data you hold independently of any platform. Owned fans represent a stable, portable commercial asset.
The most effective starting points are engagement mechanics that give fans a reason to register directly, such as exclusive content, early access, in-game rewards, and premium membership tiers. Every interaction that happens inside your own ecosystem rather than a third-party platform generates data you own and can act on.
Curious what that infrastructure looks like in practice? Download The Dark Fan Economy, our guide to closing the gaming revenue gap, and explore the full research in our interactive report.
