Audience, Attention and Attribution. Why it's worth investing in gaming.

More than one third of people on the planet have played a game in the last 12 months. The gaming market is bigger than music and film combined and by 2027, it will be valued at $507BN. Gaming has become a cornerstone of our culture yet it remains significantly? underrepresented in marketing budget allocation.

Comprised predominantly of 18-34 year olds, Gen Z is the largest cohort on the planet boasting $100BN in global annual spending power. In addition, Netflix’s The Queen's Gambit and mobile accessibility are promoting greater casual gaming among women, in particular mums, and the motivators for gaming have changed dramatically.?

According to Adexchanger, the main reasons ‘why’ people game include;

1. For social connection with like minded people?

2. As a profession and opportunity to earn income?

3. For relaxation and as way to distract themselves

4. For stimulation, as a way to achieve a sense of excitement and mastery

Classified into categories such as casual, midcore or hardcore, gaming comprises a range of segments that deliver on all marketing objectives from building awareness among the casual masses to creating superfans among the loyalists. Currently, gamers are 34% more likely to view an in-game ad than those placed on other digital channels and the average watch time of a rewards-based video ad is 22 seconds compared to an average attention span of 8 seconds among Gen Z.?

But as more competition enters the marketplace, capturing the attention of audiences long enough to drive a conversion will grow increasingly challenging.?

88% of gamers prefer ads integrated into their games, and more than 40% of gamers say in-game product placement makes games feel more real, so publishers are continuing to leverage advertising to enhance the customer experience? in order to? drive greater engagement.?

Big tech are future proofing by evolving their ecosystems to garner greater control over the messages their audiences receive. Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard will enable them to push and pull gaming audiences across their entire ecosystem. Google continues to leverage YouTube to create lucrative gaming talent and content brands and TikTok’s in-app gaming hub will benefit from talent bringing fans to the platform, opening up a plethora of pathways in the gaming sphere.?

Similarly, Livewire’s marketplace straddles all verticals across? the gaming industry to ensure it has touchpoint at each stage of the customer journey and the flexibility to reach a broad spectrum of audiences in contextually relevant ways.?

ROI and effectiveness continue to be more important than ever, prompting the IAB to create a dedicated taskforce to review and set new standardized measurement guidelines to ensure marketers can accurately analyze and compare their gaming marketing efforts against traditional channels.

In 2023, measuring success will continue to be a core focus for the industry as?marketers continue to explore gaming as key pillar of the marketing mix.