With more than 3 billion gamers worldwide playing on devices such as mobiles, tablets, consoles & PCs, the gaming industry is undeniably a force to be reckoned with when talking digital marketing strategy.
In 2020, it generated over 23 billion euros in Europe alone, which equals approximately to the GDP of a country like Iceland.
But still, when talking gamers, most often, old stereotypes of geeks in their teens, locked up in their room 24/7, emerge. Truth is, the average gamer is 31 and 47% of the gaming community is made of women. 52% are men and 1% identify themselves as non-binary/undefined. Among them, 92 million people watch e-Sport contents every single day.
More stats? While we spend around 14 hours a week socializing on digital medias, the average gamer spends around 10 hours a week playing video games. Theoretically, a brand could almost double its exposure time among its target audiences assuming there are players among these very audiences.
So why are brands (still) so reluctant to engage with such a large and hyper-connected target?
Accessibility is no longer an issue/excuse. Three main (and easy) ways to advertise in videos games and among streaming communities are in the reach of any company with a tiny bit of Social Media experience:
Traditional Formats
Pre-roll videos ads, banners, native ads… whether it is on the three leading streaming platforms (Twitch, YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming), directly in the mobile gaming apps or in the consoles menus, most of the well-known format used on Social Medias can also apply here. This means every brand that advertise on Social Medias can advertise on gaming platforms as well.
In-game advertising
Just like product placement in movies, in-game advertising offers the possibility for companies to promote their brands or products in the virtual world of a video game. From billboards around a football pitch to car liveries, most video games today allow publishers to put their name on virtual spaces or items.
This kind of format has the dual advantage of being more natural and non-intrusive while providing effective visibility and credibility among the audience of a specific video game.
Partnerships with influencers
Streamers and gaming influencers have a close and special relationship with their communities. A strong bond that translates into super-high engagement, often higher than what are now known as “traditional” influencers contents you would find on Instagram and TikTok.
Partnering with streamers and gaming influencers could thus provide high ROI assuming you choose your influencer wisely! Unlike online advertising, you cannot ventilate budgets if you notice bad return-on-investment. Once the partnership is set, it’s set!
The innovative (and tricky) thing here is that, for each of these three methods, there’s an additional targeting option that is the game itself.
First-person shooter, MMORPG, sports games, board games, mobile games…
Each game has its very own community. This creates different gamers personas from one game to another, to the point where two franchises of the same type of game can yield different results.
In a nutshell, advertising in the gaming industry is not about reinventing the wheel.
Formats are nothing new nor are the advertising techniques themselves.
So a brand might already have all the necessary contents, in the right formats, to deploy an advertising strategy on streaming or gaming platforms.
Yet, from a strategical standpoint, it requires a very profound knowledge of the context, the audiences behaviors and identities to get relevant results and good ROI.
Editor’s note: The article is brought to you by Vanksen and only reflects the opinion of the author.
