Tencent: Chinese esports market expected to grow to $1.5 billion in 2020

China is already the world's largest games market, and its esports market is a growing presence all its own. According to a report from Tencent, China's esports market is expected to grow to $1.5 billion in 2020, up from $760 million in 2017.

China Money Network released the details of Tencent's report on the state of the Chinese esports market and projections through 2020. According to the report, China was the second largest esports market in the world at the end of 2017, reporting $104 million in revenue (41% increase YOY) to the United States' $258 million (45% increase YOY). South Korea followed, having generated $49 million in revenue in 2017.

Tencent's report doesn't note on how the China-US comparison will fare by 2020. It does, however, project that Chinese esports users will grow to 350 million in 2020 and will account for 59% of an anticipated 590 million global esports users. That large userbase is currently one of the major factors keeping China so far ahead of more established, but smaller esports markets like South Korea. Currently, China's esports users account for an even higher percentage: 64% of the 390 million user global industry.

The report notes the growing influence of mobile as a way to consume esports content, though 52% of users still relied on official desktop websites for information over streaming sites or apps. By demographics, Tencent reports that 29% of all esports users are parents, while 24% are female.

Correction: An earlier version of this story represented China's current global esports market as 390 million users, when that number is actually representative of the total global market.