Gaming
Esports enthusiasts will grow to 318 million in 2025: Newzoo Report
Mumbai: The number of esports enthusiasts will grow to 318 million in 2025, with a CAGR of plus 8.1 per cent during the period 2020-2025. In 2025, the total audience will surpass 640 million, according to Newzoo’s annual report titled ‘Global Esports & Live Streaming Market Report.’ The report presents key trends, market sizing and forecasts of esports across the globe, with a special focus on mobile esports, blockchain and co-streaming.
Esports is growing enormously across the world! It is an industry that combines two of gaming’s most important aspects: playing and watching. Newzoo’s report aims to give a reliable and realistic overview of the current status and future of the live-streaming audience and esports market.
The esport industry operates at the intersection of competitive gaming and game-related live streaming. According to the report, the companies involved in esports and the creators are driving engagement across esports and live streaming alike. However, the report analyses that esports organisations still rely on sponsorship as the primary source of revenue for their business. By the end of 2022, Newzoo expects sponsorship to account for $837.3 million—nearly 60 per cent of global esports revenues.
It reveals that in 2022, the global esports audience will grow by 8.7 per cent year on year to reach 532 million. Esports enthusiasts—those who watch esports content more than once a month—will account for just over 261 million.
The game’s live-streaming audience reached almost 810 million in 2021 and is expected to reach 1.41 billion by 2025, with a CAGR of plus 16.3 per cent from 2020 to 2025. At the same time, non-gaming content is one of the drivers of massive growth, accounting for up to 21 per cent of the content watched in 2021.
More than 84 percent of users active in non-gaming categories are also active on gaming channels, which means that non-gaming content does not necessarily cannibalise gaming content on these platforms. This is an opportunity for brands that are more familiar with non-gaming content to engage with live-streaming gaming audiences.
Digital and streaming are the two fastest-growing revenue streams for esports, with 2020-2025 CAGRs of 27.2 percent and 24.8 percent, respectively. Growing awareness around digital assets and NFTs will likely boost investment and fan interest in acquiring in-game items of esports IP.
China leads the worldwide esport market
Esports is set to generate nearly $1.38 billion in revenues by the end of 2022. China will generate nearly a third of worldwide esports revenues. Southeast Asia, Central Southern Asia, and Latin America are the fastest-growing regions, with 2020-2025 CAGRs above 27.6 percent, 23.4 percent, and 19 percent, respectively. Global esports revenues will exceed $1.86 billion by 2025, representing a healthy CAGR of above 13.4 percent.
At the same time, PC esports titles dominate developed markets such as North America, Europe, China, South Korea, and Japan. Mobile esports titles dominate emerging markets like Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, Southeast Asia, and India
Twitch leads the esport live-streaming
According to the report, Twitch was the most popular games live-streaming platform in the West in 2021, seeing a 26 percent year-on-year increase with nearly 20 billion live gaming hours watched. YouTube Gaming was the second largest, with 4.7 billion live gaming hours watched.
Brands are moving towards co-streaming
The report also reveals that co-streaming is increasingly becoming part of brands’ strategy to provide non-gaming content to the gaming community. Recently, Netflix, the NBA, and Formula 1 have partnered with streamers to expand their distribution channels for content among gamers.
Gaming
Bluestone FY26 revenue rises to Rs 2,436 crore, turns profitable
Q4 profit at Rs 31 crore, full-year profit at Rs 13 crore vs loss last year.
MUMBAI: From sparkle to numbers, Bluestone seems to be polishing more than just jewellery this year. Bluestone Jewellery and Lifestyle Limited reported a sharp turnaround in FY26, with revenue from operations rising to Rs 2,436 crore (Rs 24,364 million), up from Rs 1,770 crore (Rs 17,700 million) in FY25. The company posted a full-year profit of Rs 13 crore (Rs 131.79 million), a significant recovery from a loss of Rs 222 crore (Rs 2,218 million) a year ago.
Total income for the year stood at Rs 2,486 crore (Rs 24,860 million), compared to Rs 1,830 crore (Rs 18,300 million) in the previous year, reflecting both topline growth and improved operational momentum.
The March quarter, however, told a more nuanced story. Revenue from operations came in at Rs 681 crore (Rs 6,814 million), down from Rs 748 crore (Rs 7,486 million) in the year-ago period, though higher than Rs 461 crore (Rs 4,613 million) in the preceding December quarter. Net profit for Q4 stood at Rs 31 crore (Rs 311.81 million), compared to Rs 68 crore (Rs 688 million) a year earlier, but a clear reversal from a loss of Rs 51 crore (Rs 512 million) in Q3.
Margins were shaped by higher input costs, with raw material consumption rising to Rs 2,204 crore (Rs 22,043 million) for the full year, alongside employee benefit expenses of Rs 282 crore (Rs 2,824 million) and finance costs of Rs 210 crore (Rs 2,104 million). Other expenses came in at Rs 371 crore (Rs 3,715 million), slightly lower than Rs 393 crore (Rs 3,938 million) in FY25.
On the balance sheet front, total assets expanded to Rs 4,961 crore (Rs 49,610 million) as of March 31, 2026, from Rs 3,532 crore (Rs 35,322 million) a year earlier, driven largely by a surge in inventories to Rs 2,672 crore (Rs 26,718 million). Equity also strengthened to Rs 1,803 crore (Rs 18,030 million), nearly doubling from Rs 911 crore (Rs 9,107 million).
Cash flows reflected the cost of growth. Net cash used in operating activities stood at Rs 199 crore (Rs 1,990 million), while investing activities saw an outflow of Rs 239 crore (Rs 2,392 million). Financing activities, however, generated Rs 497 crore (Rs 4,971 million), helping the company end the year with cash and cash equivalents of Rs 108 crore (Rs 1,075 million), up from Rs 49 crore (Rs 487 million).
Earnings per share for FY26 came in at Rs 1.10, a sharp improvement from a negative Rs 79.74 in FY25, underlining the shift from losses to profitability.
With revenue scaling up, costs still glittering on the higher side, and profitability finally back in the black, BlueStone’s FY26 performance suggests a business mid-transition less about shine alone, and more about sustaining it.
