How Monster Energy Drove Over 7M Views with Gaming-Related Content

‍Purpose of This Research

Uncover Monster Energy's content and marketing approach for engaging the gaming audience online:

• ‍Evaluate key partnerships and sponsorships
• Analyze successful gaming-related content
• Examine product collaborations and in-game partnerships

‍

Key Takeaways

Monster has yet to share any gaming-related content on its TikTok.

• Recommendations
  Utilize white space opportunity on TikTok to reach the gaming community.

‍

Monster globally sponsors streamers with small and large followings from 9M to 71K. 

• Recommendations
  Collaborate with streamers ranging from mega to mid-tier levels to boost engagement in the gaming community.

‍

Monster appears to have cut ties with all of its sponsored eSports teams, with the exception of Team Liquid.

• Recommendations
  There's opportunity to work with the top 5 teams: FaZe Clan, TSM, Fnatic, OpTic Gaming & Natus Vincere — they attract 69% of viewers, yet lack energy drink sponsorships.

‍

Monster and ESL Gaming expanded their partnership to include mobile gaming and esports.

• Recommendations
  i) Team up with top eSports event organizers such as Riot Games, Garena and Tencent.
  ii) Look for opportunities to expand reach in the mobile gaming sector such as the ML:BB Professional League. 

‍

Monster’s Apex Legends collaboration campaign drove over 3M web visits with its charity tournament generating 38% of Monster Gaming’s total video views.

• Recommendations
  Leverage game partnerships to boost engagement, sales and reach new gamers. Promote campaigns with exclusive in-game items, giveaways, and charity tournaments.

‍

Team Liquid hosted the 'Monster Morning' show on Monster's Twitch account resulting in over 63K hours watched.

• Recommendations
  Host "takeovers" on your brand's channels using eSport partners.

‍

‍

“Monster Gaming” is searched for a lot more than “Red Bull Gaming” or “Monster Energy Gaming”... 

*Worldwide monthly search interest from Oct. ‘21 to May ‘23. Search interest is relative. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0 means there was not enough data for this term. 

‍

…This is because "Monster Gaming" is connected to more things than just the drink, which we can see from the other search terms that people use along with it.

*Normalized search interest from Oct. ‘21 to May ‘23. Search interest is relative. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0 means there was not enough data for this term. 

‍

"Red Bull Gaming" is searched 5x more than "Monster Energy Gaming" on average. 

Interest peaked for “Red Bull Gaming” in August and October 2022 due to the following events:  

 *A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0 means there was not enough data for this term. 

‍

"Monster Energy Gaming" interest peaked in November 2022.

Coinciding with its "Monster Energy x APEX Legends 2022" initiative.

*A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0 means there was not enough data for this term. 

‍

Red Bull's gaming pages attract 4X the web traffic compared to those of Monster.

Both brands experienced a gaming traffic decline, with Monster's at slope of -23 and Red Bull's at a steeper slope of -44.

*Worldwide, desktop traffic only.

‍

A larger portion of Monster's total web traffic goes to its gaming pages than Red Bull's.

*Average % of total web traffic from Oct. ‘21 - May ‘23.  Worldwide, desktop traffic only.

‍

‍

Monster’s gaming strategy can be broken down into the following categories:

• ‍Organic Content: Sharing gaming content on Monster's social media accounts.
• ‍Sponsored Teams: Sponsoring the eSport team, Team Liquid.
• ‍Sponsored Streamers: Collaborating with popular gaming content creators on YouTube and Twitch.
• ‍Sponsored Events: Sponsoring significant eSport events and partnering with ESL Gaming.
• ‍Game Partnerships: Collaborating with Apex Legends for in-game interactions and tournaments.
• Game-Related Advertising: Monster allocated $4.7M towards gaming ads (Oct. ‘22 - Apr. ‘23). Check out the Advertising Channel Scan™

‍

‍

Monster runs gaming social accounts (@monstergaming) on Twitter and Instagram.

‍

These gaming accounts have a combined following of 630K, split roughly equally between the two platforms.

From October 2021 to May 2023, follower growth was insignificant, with a total increase of just +1.3%.

‍

The gaming accounts lost -4K followers from December 2021 to June 2022 due to a post cadence that was 43% lower than average.

*The graph's starting point is not zero in order to highlight the monthly fluctuations in follower count.

‍

Partner with charities to host live gaming tournaments.

The Monster Mayhem Apex charity tournament in November 2022 generated 38% of Monster Gaming’s total video views.

‍

Utilize main brand accounts to reach the gaming audience.

Monster Energy's main accounts also posts gaming-related content, with posts often tagging @monsterenergy and using the hashtag #monstergaming.

‍

‍

Monster’s main accounts (@monsterenergy) generated over 7M views on gaming-related content.

*Total video views from Oct. ‘21 to May ‘23. 

‍

Highlight sponsored gaming teams' journeys to success.

The "#RallyYourSquad - Team Alliance" YouTube video made up 79% of Monster Energy's total gaming views.

‍

*Total video views from Oct. ‘21 to May ‘23. 

‍

Utilize white space opportunity on TikTok to reach the gaming community. 

Monster has yet to share any gaming-related content on its TikTok.

*Total video views from Oct. ‘21 to May ‘23. 

‍

‍

Monster sponsors the following streamers, with a combined total audience over 30M: 

‍

Partner with diverse streamers, from mega, macro to mid-tier. 

Monster sponsors streamers who cater to a diverse crowd, with their follower count stretching from more than 9M to a modest 71K.

Mega = blue
Macro = cyan
Mid-tier = purple

‍

‍

Leverage every part of a sponsored streamer's platform.

Monster strategically places its brand on sponsored streamers' platforms to increase brand visibility within the gaming community.

• Display logo on streamer's digital assets such as banners and headers.
• Feature branded items like a fridge or neon sign in the streamer’s background.
• Encourage streamers to wear branded merch during streams.
• Include the brand's gaming handle in the streamer's bio.
• Feature the logo in stream pop-ups or frames.

‍

Encourage streamers to share their personal stories to connect with their audience.

Monster uses streamers to share unique content and personal stories related to their products.

‍

‍

‍

• Use your brand's unique colours in sponsored posts to catch the eye and help people remember your brand.
• Connect with your audience on a deeper level by sharing personal stories, like AchilleFPS' success as Monster's gaming athlete as a French Canadian.
• Make the most of sponsored posts to promote upcoming gaming events and tournaments.

‍

Leverage sponsored streamers' channels to show off new products through PR package unboxing.

Monster leverages its network of sponsored streamers to promote new product launches.

• Plan a campaign where streamers show new products, tag your brand. Repost this content on your gaming branded accounts.

‍

• Deliver new product packages to sponsored streamers and ask them to include the 'unboxing' experience in their posts.

‍

‍

Monster appears to have cut ties with all of its sponsored eSports teams that were identified in November 2021*, with the exception of Team Liquid.

* PSG.LGD is LGD’s Dota 2 team which is sponsored by PSG.

‍

In terms of prize money, Team Liquid is the top ranked eSport Team in the world. 

*Prize money as of June 2024, based on data collected by Esports Chart since autumn 2016.

‍

While Red Bull sponsored eSport teams have a greater combined total prize pool at $99M. 

*Prize money as of June 2024, based on data collected by Esports Chart since autumn 2016.

‍

In terms of total followers, Red Bull sponsored teams have 17M followers vs. Monster’s 3M.

*Combined total followers on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, TikTok as of June 2024.

‍

There's opportunity to work with the top 5 teams.

These teams comprise 69% of the audience, without any current energy drink sponsorships.

*Combined total followers on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, TikTok as of June 2024.

‍

‍

‍Leverage eSports teams to enhance brand awareness.‍

Monster displays its logo on Team Liquid's website, social profiles, jerseys, merchandise, and player profiles.

• ‍Promote brand on players' and the sponsored team's social media profiles.
• Display brand watermark on team jerseys and merchandise.
• Highlight the brand as a prominent partner on the team's website.

‍

Host "takeovers" on your brand's channels using eSport partners.

Prior to The International 2022, Team Liquid hosted the 'Monster Morning' show on Monster's Twitch account to discuss the upcoming Dota 2 playoffs, resulting in over 63K hours watched.

‍

‍

Monster and ESL Gaming announced (1) an extensive expansion of their partnership on March 17th, 2022.

• This multi-year agreement marks Monster’s first foray into mobile gaming and esports, while also continuing its partnership with ESL's PC game events. 
• The expanded partnership includes ESL Pro Tour CS:GO and StarCraft II, DreamHack, DOTA 2, and ESL Mobile.

‍

ESL Gaming is at the forefront when it comes to hosting tournaments, having hosted over 1.5K events to date.

*Based on ESchart’s all time organizer data as of June 2024. Organizers host esports, sport, or music events. It can be large companies, streamers, or common gamers. Red Bull has partnership with Riot Games which includes  Valorant and LoL.

‍

With over 500 tournaments under its belt, Red Bull has established its position among the top 10 global organizers.

*Based on ESchart’s all time organizer data as of June 2024. Organizers host esports, sport, or music events. It can be large companies, streamers, or common gamers. Red Bull has partnership with Riot Games which includes  Valorant and LoL.

‍

There's opportunity to partner with these organizers to increase exposure at eSport tournaments.

*Based on ESchart’s all time organizer data as of June 2024. Organizers host esports, sport, or music events. It can be large companies, streamers, or common gamers. Red Bull has partnership with Riot Games which includes  Valorant and LoL.

‍

In April 2023 (2) , Monster became the Official Energy Drink of the Call of Duty League™ for 2023 and 2024 seasons.

• The sponsorship kicked off at the Major IV tournament in Ohio from  April 20-23, 2023. 
• Outside of fueling the competing teams, the partnership includes exclusive content, such as Monster Matchup, Monster Energy Pre-Game, and Monster Energy Winner Spotlight.

‍

Top Red Bull sponsored eSport tournaments account for 22% of the total hours watched*.

*Based on ESchart’s top 16 tournament series of all time data as of June 2024. 

‍

Top Monster sponsored eSport tournaments account for just 9% of the total hours watched*.

*Based on ESchart’s top 16 tournament series of all time data as of June 2024. 

‍

There’s opportunity to expand reach through partnering with LoL tournaments such as LCK and LCS NA…

*Based on ESchart’s top 16 tournament series of all time data as of June 2024. 

‍

…Or to expand into the world of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang with the ML:BB Professional League. 

*Based on ESchart’s top 16 tournament series of all time data as of June 2024. 

‍

‍

Play the long game. Establish multi-year agreements for a consistent and lasting brand presence.

Monster has established multi-year agreements with both ESL Gaming and the Call of Duty League.

*Starting in April 2023.

‍

Expand into different gaming segments — like mobile.

Monster’s extensive expansion (1) of their partnership with ESL Gaming marked the first time they have supported mobile gaming and esports

This strategic decision leverages the rapidly growing popularity of mobile gaming globally, enabling Monster to reach a larger and more varied audience.

‍

Increase brand exposure at events.

Monster ensures its branding is prominent at gaming events, whether it's above the LAN rows at a DreamHack festival or as the official energy drink of the Call of Duty League. This increases brand awareness among the gaming audience.

Additionally, Monster utilizes events for product sampling opportunities, creating an immersive and engaging brand experience.

‍

‍Make the most of events by using sponsored streamers to offer fans special chances to meet and greet them at branded booths.‍

By leveraging its sponsored streamers, Monster maximizes their presence at events by offering fans exclusive opportunities to meet and greet them at their Monster branded booths. 

‍

‍

‍

Present exclusive event related content.

Monster partners with Call of Duty League to present exclusive content like "Monster Matchup," "Monster Energy Pre-Game," and "Monster Energy Winner Spotlight." These offerings enable the brand to engage viewers and align itself with the event.

‍

‍

‍

Similar to 2021*, Monster ran a promotion in partnership with Apex Legends which ran from August 2022 to January 2023. 

• The campaign provided exclusive in-game items that came with every Monster can purchase.
• ‍Sweepstakes that offered Apex Legends coins as prizes.
• An Apex Legends charity tournament called "Monster Mayhem (3)" was held on Twitch.

‍

The campaign landing page drove over 3M visits, peaking in November 2022 at 533K visits.

*Total monthly traffic for apexlegends.monsterenergy.com from August 2022 to March 2023 — all devices & worldwide

‍

References:

1. ESL Gaming and Monster Energy Announce Historic Multi-Year Global Portfolio Partnership

2. Monster Energy Sponsors Call of Duty League™ 2023/2024

3. Monster Energy x Apex Legends Collaborate for Monster Mayhem Apex Legends Tournamen