Indian gaming influencers seek the stars, but it's a tricky upward trek

livemint.com:

₹2 crore ($240,000). While tournaments of this scale are good for gamers, the rising crop of professional esports players have a problem—they’re not being able to monetize their gameplays and social media presence.

For gamers, this is vital. Competitions such as the one cited above are bit-part earning sources, where the prize pool is divided across varying categories, and also depends on multiple variable factors.

In developed economies, to earn well, gamers rely on streaming popular titles on platforms such as YouTube and the US-based Twitch to enthusiast communities, who subscribe to their favourite gamers. These creators also rope in brand endorsements in order to generate a steady monthly income stream—thereby cementing gaming as a viable primary profession of choice.

In India, the story is somewhat different, so far. Here, creators who stream their gameplay on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, as well as homegrown gaming-centric streaming upstarts such as Rooter and Loco, have so far seen a slow pace of uptake for endorsements or payments from viewing audiences.

Their streams on platforms are not heavily monetized as of now due to multiple factors—biggest of which are a nascent audience that’s mostly underage, and a lack of understanding of games and their impact among decision-makers in corporate firms. For instance, Mint research of a pool of over 20 esports players, content creators and influencers that post content across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Rooter and Loco found that while top gamers such as Animesh ‘8bit Thug’ Agarwal and others with over 2 million followers across platforms make upward of ₹40 lakh ($51,000) per annum, nearly 90% of India’s aspiring gaming influencers earn less than ₹3 lakh ($3,600)