Gaming and residential leisure in all their varieties have soared due to the pandemic, creating an unprecedented alternative to entrepreneurs and advertisers, who’re intent on reaching these newly captive audiences.
On this article, we’ve collected collectively statistics, stories and figures that illustrate how the continuing Covid-19 pandemic is affecting every thing from gamer demographics to in-game promoting to streaming TV, and what meaning for the advertising alternative they current.
Video video games & gaming behaviour
Worldwide gaming market to be valued at greater than $314 billion by 2027
A forecast by Mordor Intelligence has predicted that the worldwide gaming market will likely be value $314.4 billion by 2027, up from 173.7 billion in 2021, and registering a compound annual progress price (CAGR) of 9.64% between 2022 and 2027.
Mordor Intelligence recognized cellular gaming because the fastest-growing phase of the video games market, attributing this to its accessibility – “Almost everybody has a smartphone with video games”. Moreover, technological advances like VR, AR, cloud gaming and 5G have all contributed to an increase in recognition for cellular gaming. Nevertheless, cellular video games promoting has turn into more difficult due to the implementation of Apple’s IDFA, which presents a barrier to focused promoting on iOS; Mordor Intelligence has predicted that advertising inventive will “turn into extra essential than ever earlier than” in 2022 in consequence.
The report singled out Asia Pacific as the biggest marketplace for video games, pointing to the speedy progress of mini-games in China which are performed inside apps like WeChat, in addition to China’s rising technological adoption. Nevertheless, Mordor Intelligence predicts solely “mid” stage progress for a lot of the Asia Pacific area between 2022 and 2027, with solely Japan and South Korea anticipated to ship excessive progress. Different excessive progress markets embody North America and Europe, whereas the Center East and Africa is anticipated to have the quickest progress of all regional markets going into 2027.
55% of US players mentioned they performed extra video games in the course of the pandemic, with 90% anticipating this to proceed
Within the 2021 version of the ‘Important Info Concerning the Video Recreation Trade‘ report, launched by the Leisure Software program Affiliation, the ESA discovered that 55% of online game gamers within the US performed extra video games in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, with 90% anticipating this to proceed even as soon as social distancing was not required.
Whereas not wholly shocking throughout a time when most of the people has been pressured to spend lengthy durations confined indoors, the statistic remains to be proof of the rise in interplay with gaming led to by the pandemic, a rise which many count on to final at the same time as different leisure choices turn into accessible once more.
The report additionally yielded some attention-grabbing insights into the demographics of who’s getting extra concerned in gaming: it discovered that 74% of oldsters within the US now play video games no less than weekly with their youngsters, up from 55% in 2020’s version of the report. Seventy-one % of oldsters additionally agreed that video video games offered a “much-needed break” for his or her little one, with 70% permitting their youngsters to do extra when it got here to gaming.
Two thirds of US mother and father (66%) additionally consider that video video games had helped easy the transition to distance studying, with 63% discovering instructional video games to be “very” or “extraordinarily” efficient. This factors to gaming filling a job in households that doesn’t completely revolve round leisure, as mother and father turn into extra open to video video games as a software for studying and stimulation for his or her youngsters. Different statistics within the report confirmed video video games taking over a social function, with 77% of respondents enjoying video games on-line or with others no less than weekly, up from 65% in 2020’s report.
Players will make up greater than half the inhabitants of Europe by 2023
Whereas not recognized for being one of many main video gaming markets on the planet (lagging behind areas like the USA and China, or Asia-Pacific, in measurement), Europe remains to be set to get pleasure from main progress in its gaming inhabitants within the coming years, in response to information from Statista and betting web site MejoresApuestas.com, revealed in July 2021.
It forecasts that the gamer inhabitants of Europe will bounce to greater than 351 million by 2023, with players making up greater than half of the continent’s inhabitants.
The gaming inhabitants of Europe had been having fun with regular progress earlier than the pandemic, however – unsurprisingly – leapt dramatically upwards with the onset of Covid-19, with greater than 51 million Europeans taking over video gaming after the pandemic struck. Between 2019 and 2020, the variety of European players swelled from 278.55 millon to 316.07 million, and continued to develop to 329.48 million in 2021. By 2025, it’s predicted that European players will quantity greater than 367 million.
Because of all of this progress, revenues from gaming in Europe are additionally anticipated to surge over the subsequent two years, rising by $5 billion between 2021 and 2023, with an extra $4 billion value of progress within the two years after that. Altogether, they’ll rise by near $10 billion within the coming 4 years, from $23.5 billion in 2021 to $32.6 billion in 2025, illustrating the financial clout that gaming can wield even in “smaller” regional markets.
US shopper spend on video video games elevated 27% in 2020
In a collection of tweets, Govt Director on the NPD Group, Mat Piscatella, shared some fascinating perception into US shopper spending on the video video games trade all through 2020, based mostly on full-year information collected by the corporate.
Complete spend on online game content material throughout PC, console, cellular, moveable, cloud and VR platforms in the USA reached $56.9 billion in 2020, rising by 27% year-on-year.
In December alone, $7.7 billion was spent on such video games, up 25% in comparison with the identical month in 2019, whereas spend on {hardware} grew to $1.35 billion (+38%), little question boosted by the discharge of the brand new Xbox and Ps consoles in November.
The Nintendo Swap was the best-selling console in 2020, as evidenced by the large rise in demand seen all through the spring and summer season months when many seemed to distract themselves from life in lockdown. Based on evaluation, the annual greenback gross sales of the Swap had been solely outstripped by the launch of the Nintendo Wii in 2008. The PlayStation 5 got here in second place for greenback gross sales in 2020, however its predecessor beat it in unit gross sales.
Cellular gaming
In 2021, cellular gaming introduced in additional income than console and PC video games mixed
The World Video games Market Report 2021, launched by Newzoo, has revealed that cellular gaming introduced in additional than US $93 billion in 2021, accounting for greater than half (52%) of the whole gaming income for the yr.
Which means that cellular gaming income is greater than that of PC gaming and console gaming mixed: the previous bringing in additional than $36 billion, and the latter greater than $50 billion, in 2021. Not like cellular gaming, PC gaming and console gaming haven’t been as resilient to the provision chain disruption led to by the Covid-19 pandemic, in addition to the delays in sport releases it has prompted.
Whereas console gaming might have initially benefited from the lockdown (as evidenced by the report income and gross sales loved by Nintendo in 2020, pushed by a growth in recognition for the Swap), it and PC gaming have been much less in a position to stand up to the after-effects. Based on the report, cellular gaming grew by 7.3% yr on yr, whereas PC gaming shrank by 0.8%, and console gaming by 6.6%. Altogether, gaming introduced in a complete of $180.3 billion in 2021, with a progress price of 1.4% – clearly saved within the black by cellular gaming’s progress.
Newzoo forecasts a compound annual progress price (CAGR) of 11.2% for the cellular video games market between 2019 and 2024, predicting that cellular video games will generate $116.1 billion in 2024, pushed by progress markets such because the Center East and Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and India.
Cellular gaming income spiked at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, adopted by continued sturdy progress into 2021
Based on an annual report by Sensor Tower, The State of Cellular Gaming 2021, international income from cellular gaming spiked at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with year-on-year progress in Q1 2020 leaping by 18.6% – greater than the expansion recorded in the course of the entirety of 2019 (18%). Q2 2020 introduced even greater progress, with income growing by 32.9% year-on-year. For the primary time that quarter, cellular gaming earned greater than $20 billion globally.
Whereas Q3 and This autumn 2020 noticed proportionally slower progress, income once more jumped considerably in Q1 of 2021 (a year-on-year improve of 24.7%, regardless of the elevated ranges of Q1 2020), “simply outpacing” the expansion of the prior two years, within the phrases of the report. Altogether, international gaming income exceeded $22 billion in Q1 2021, up from simply $15 billion in Q1 2019.
The report additionally recognized the highest 5 international areas for cellular video games spending: in descending order, the USA, Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan. Previous to 2019, Japan topped the checklist, however was overtaken by the USA, which has since continued to develop its market share. In 2020, the US had a market share of 28% of cellular video games spending, adopted by Japan at 22%, China at 18%, South Korea at 7% and Taiwan at 3%. Sensor Tower additionally famous that international locations exterior of the highest 5 have been slowly gaining market share, “suggesting that cellular sport publishers have turned to less-tapped markets with greater progress potential.”
36% of British cellular players have performed extra usually for the reason that begin of the pandemic, and the behavior is right here to remain
An April 2021 YouGov survey discovered the pandemic-induced surge in cellular gaming is almost certainly right here to remain. Thirty-six % of British cellular players mentioned they’ve performed extra usually for the reason that begin of the pandemic, with feminine players almost certainly to contribute in direction of the rise (42% in comparison with 29% of male cellular players). This determine grows to 39% of cellular players within the US, however progress has been extra evenly cut up between men and women (40% of females vs. 38% of males).
Additional information reveals nearly all of each GB and US players hope to maintain their heightened cellular gaming habits post-pandemic, regardless of returning to busier existence. Sixty-eight % of British respondents agreed that they had been very or considerably prone to proceed spending extra time on the exercise as soon as Covid-19 has subsided, rising to 77% of US respondents.
With greater than two-thirds of British shoppers now frequently enjoying video games on their cellular units, sport builders and (by extension) in-game advertisers can count on to take care of a big share of shoppers’ designated leisure time sooner or later.
In H1 2021, gaming accounted for half of all international cellular user-acquisition spending
VentureBeat stories on H1 2021 information from Alter that finds gaming accounted for half of all international cellular user-acquisition spending, following an enormous increase in engagement throughout cellular video games for the reason that pandemic started. This determine is even greater in APAC, at 64%, and in North America (57%).
By comparability, the second largest class on cellular – ecommerce – represented only a 16% share of user-acquisition spending worldwide. In EMEA, this divide between investments is much less pronounced, with a below-average 39% of user-acquisition spending devoted to cellular gaming, and 27% to cellular ecommerce.
Further information reveals puzzle gaming continues to dominate as the highest cellular gaming sub-vertical around the globe, accumulating a 16% share of downloads. This pattern is mirrored in most areas excluding APAC, the place role-playing video games have the biggest lead (at 23% of all downloads).
It’s clear why user-acquisition in cellular gaming stays so excessive throughout 2021. At present, gaming apps comprise one quarter of all downloads on iOS, and 21% of downloads on Android programs. Whereas the variety of periods spent in-game thus far in 2021 is unsurprisingly decrease than the spike we noticed on the peak of the primary wave final yr, engagement grows steadily – up 4% on This autumn 2020. Complete cellular gaming periods in February 2021, for instance, outperformed January 2021 by 47%.
In-game promoting
In-game promoting forecast to generate $14 billion by 2028, up from $6 billion in 2020
Based on international market analysis agency Analysis Dive, the worldwide in-game promoting market will generate simply shy of $14 billion between 2021 and 2028, up from just a little over $6 billion in 2020, at what Analysis Dive has referred to as a “wholesome” CAGR of 11.2%.
When advertisers scaled again on media spend of every kind in the course of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and drastically recalculated their promoting methods, one type of promoting benefited enormously – online game promoting. With online game engagement and consumption growing exponentially in the course of the lockdown, advertisers noticed a golden alternative and took it. Now, forecasts point out that the expansion of in-game promoting will proceed to extend properly into the 2020s.
The video games market in Asia-Pacific is especially energetic, and Analysis Dive predicts that the in-game promoting house in APAC will develop at a CAGR of 12.9%, producing a income of greater than $3.6 billion. This can make APAC essentially the most profitable international area for in-game promoting, though not the biggest – the report forecasts that the North American in-game promoting market will likely be bigger, reaching greater than $4.7 billion by 2028.
Analysis Dive additionally predicts that the adoption of smartphones and the growing recognition of cellular gaming will likely be a driving pressure within the progress of in-game promoting to 2028, though its projection signifies that PC and laptop computer gaming will nonetheless maintain the dominant share of the in-game advert market even in 6 years’ time, surpassing $7.9 billion by 2028. Nevertheless, the smartphone/pill sub-segment will show the quickest progress, surpassing $6 billion by 2028 with a CAGR of 12.2%.
Advertisers underestimate the size of gaming audiences – and overestimate the chance in console gaming
Regardless of the well-publicised explosion in gaming exercise led to by the Covid-19 pandemic, an October 2021 report from Admix reveals that there’s nonetheless a spot between perceptions and actuality with regards to how advertisers strategy the video games market. A survey of greater than 400 UK and US media patrons, performed by Atomik Analysis, discovered {that a} third of respondents consider there are between 100 and 500 million energetic every day players, whereas 27% believed there are between 500 million and one billion. In actuality, there are three billion, of whom 2.8 billion sport on a cellular machine.
In a means, it’s unsurprising that media patrons underestimate the variety of players worldwide, on condition that players themselves usually do. “Perceptions persist that solely sure varieties of video video games on sure varieties of platform “rely” as video gaming,” notes the report creator, citing a statistic from Savanta that solely 11% of people that play completely on smartphones or tablets consider themselves as players, in contrast with practically half of those that play on consoles or PCs.
However as we now have seen, the ability of the cellular gaming market may be very actual – and but 60% of advertisers surveyed felt that console video games provided extra “premium” online game stock compared with cellular. This can be a picture subject that distributors of cellular gaming stock must sort out, however the notion hole may even detrimentally have an effect on advertisers themselves if they’re lacking out on the chance to focus on cellular players in consequence.
81% of US and UK-based media patrons wish to improve in-game promoting spend into 2022
Recreation On For Advertisers – an October 2021 report from in-play promoting platform Admix and Atomik Analysis – has discovered 81% of media patrons wish to improve their in-game promoting spend over the subsequent 12 months. That is, partly, due to a renewed curiosity from advertisers within the energy of gaming as a part of the advertising combine. Added to that’s the enormous uptake within the passion from shoppers all through the pandemic. By the tip of the yr, three billon energetic players, globally, might spend as much as $176 billion on video games.
The survey of greater than 400 media patrons from the US and UK additionally reveals there are a lot who shouldn’t have the price range to promote within the subsequent yr, however are together with it of their long-term plans – 93% say they intend to run in-game advertisements by 2025. Nevertheless, one-fifth of respondents said the important thing cause they’d be hesitant to buy in-game promoting house is a lack of know-how across the course of and execution.
This wariness and confusion interprets extra strongly amongst US shoppers, 23% of whom have immediately resisted spending on the advert format versus simply 9% of these within the UK. Equally, 52% of UK media patrons’ shoppers are requesting that cash be spent on in-game advertising in comparison with 33% within the US.
As curiosity in online game promoting continues, it opens up much more potentialities for entrepreneurs seeking to promote their manufacturers inside the vertical. The supply of programmatic choices, third-party verification for in-game promoting efficiency and a rise in in-game stock have all been cited as the most important causes of progress within the class.
TV and OTT
Development of TV promoting over coming 4 years will likely be pushed by OTT platforms
Over the High (OTT) streaming platforms – platforms that serve their content material on to viewers over the web, like Disney+ and Netflix – skilled an immense surge in recognition in the course of the first yr of the pandemic. Based on Forrester, by June 2020, 48% of adults within the US alone had subscribed to no less than one streaming service. This makes promoting on OTT platforms an more and more key method to attain audiences.
Based on figures from The Enterprise Analysis Firm (TBRC), the rising use of OTT platforms will drive the expansion of the TV promoting market over the approaching 4 years. TBRC predicts that the dimensions of the worldwide TV advert market will develop from $95.98 billion in 2022 to $105.96 billion in 2026, at a CAGR of two.5%. OTT advert spending, in the meantime, totalled $990 million in 2020, and is predicted to develop to $2.373 billion by 2025, a rise of 139% – “suggesting that promoting on streaming companies is increasing at speedy pace”, within the phrases of the TBRC report.
TBRC highlights a few of the key benefits that OTT advertisements maintain over different types of promoting: particularly, that they’re 100% viewable and non-skippable, and never prone to advert blocking. As well as, programmatic promoting on OTT platforms provides an elevated stage of flexibility and precision concentrating on, in addition to making advert buying quicker and cheaper.
62% of Britons watch extra SVOD for the reason that pandemic started, even after lockdown
Superior Tv stories October 2021 information from Criteo that reveals the recognition of SVOD (subscription video on demand) with British shoppers has not waned since lockdown was lifted. Sixty-two % of these surveyed mentioned they had been watching extra content material offered by paid streaming companies now than they did earlier than the onset of the coronavirus.
In the case of what shoppers want about these companies, greater than half of them say that platforms like Netflix, YouTube and Prime Video had greater leisure worth than linear TV channels, usually for a a lot cheaper price. At present, one-third of TV viewers within the UK are spending over £50 on a cable or satellite tv for pc subscription, whereas simply 1 in 8 spend the identical quantity on the favored video streaming companies they use, mixed.
Elevated time at dwelling, versus pre-pandemic, was rated the highest cause for subscribing to SVOD manufacturers (56%), nonetheless, the power to look at reveals and movies anytime, anyplace was additionally interesting (42%), as many individuals return to their busy every day lives.
Trying to the long run, nearly one-third of shopper respondents said they wish to be watching extra SVOD content material this time subsequent yr. This can largely be pushed by Gen Z and Millennial cohorts who, on common, are watching movies on each free and paid streaming platforms way over the common particular person (42% vs 29% and 40% vs 29%, respectively).
Maybe most significantly for advertisers, 40% of shoppers declare that advertisements proven on SVOD platforms have had an affect on their buying behaviour over the previous yr.
Almost 1 in 5 UK shoppers are pure streamers
In 2020, the variety of shoppers that watched conventional TV on a weekly foundation was decrease than it had been in no less than the final 4 years, at 79%, in response to a December 2020 examine performed by AudienceProject.
Comparable patterns will be seen in behaviour throughout areas like Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The pattern is much more pronounced within the US, the place simply 59% watched conventional TV in 2020 in comparison with 83% in 2017.
This constant drop in conventional TV viewing is being changed, unsurprisingly, by widespread subscription streaming companies like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime. Within the UK alone, people who use streaming platforms no less than one per week has risen from 49% in 2018 to a a lot bigger 77% in 2020, with below 45s dominating the shift.
In consequence, practically one in 5 (17%) UK shoppers at the moment are ‘pure streamers’ – that’s, people who’ve ditched conventional TV altogether in favour of streaming companies. The determine will little question improve over time, particularly on account of recent habits shaped in the course of the pandemic. Certainly, final yr, 27% of UK respondents to the examine mentioned that they had both watched much less conventional TV or had begun utilizing streaming companies greater than they did in 2019.
The UK nonetheless has some method to go earlier than it catches up with the viewing habits of shoppers within the US, who prepared the ground globally, with one-third (32%) now categorized as pure streamers.
What entrepreneurs can be taught from the evolving gaming trade and ‘Era Subsequent’
