What are esports, how many people watch it - and how much are esports players paid?

We’re all familiar with traditional spectator sports, but in recent years, a new phenomenon has burst on to the sporting scene - esports.

You might not be familiar with esports, but they’re a very big deal indeed - and they’re only growing in popularity. So much so, in fact, that they're set to feature in a pilot event taking place alongside the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

So what exactly are esports, how much money is involved in them, and how did they grow to become such a big deal?

Esports is the term used to describe organised video gaming competitions. Players are signed to various teams and compete in leagues, facing off against each other.

Although the emergence of competitive esports is a relatively recent phenomenon, it has an enormous following. Millions of fans around the world watch and follow esports.

Games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, Madden NFL and Counter-Strike are among the most popular games on the esports scene.

In December 2020, business website Forbes compiled a list of the most valuable esports teams around the world. The most lucrative are worth hundreds of millions of US dollars.

Topping the list was ESM, valued at $410 million (£301.9 million), followed by Cloud9 at $350 million and TeamLiquid at $310 million.

The top esports players have raked in millions of dollars' worth of prize money - and as esports continues to grow, the rewards on offer are only likely to grow.

Danish gamer Johan ‘N0tail’ Sundstein - famous on the esports scene for his exploits playing Dota 2 - has raked in more than $7 million in prize money.

Other big winners include Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf with $3.2 million, and Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen with $1.9 million.

According to the BBC, research from NewZoo revealed