for both advertisers and marketers alike — and a very large part of this is due to the fast pace
of change in gaming technology.
A lot of games that used to require very high-end systems and the latest equipment now have
mobile versions which only require a smartphone, making them much more accessible — and to
a much wider audience.
In fact, a recent study by the Entertainment Software Association found that among adult
gamers in the US, 60% prefer playing games on smartphones, compared with 52% who prefer
personal computers, and 49% who like to use desktop consoles.
And greater accessibility is something that has very broad implications for the “gamer identity”.
What used to be seen as a really male-dominated group (at least, in terms of the targeted demographic
by advertisers) has experienced a steady increase of female gamers, who now represent about
46% of gamers in the US.
The face of gaming is changing (and it has been for some time now), expanding now to include
an ever growing set of ethnicities, ages, income brackets, and even political affiliations
and more.
But even more diverse than the gamers themselves, may be their games of choice, which ranges
from Candy Crush and online poker to Fortnite and Death Stranding.
And even if we separate the really hardcore gamers from the casual ones, this mainly reveals
broader, albeit smaller, subsets of audiences filled with different niches and subcultures.
The gamer identity no longer applies to a single type of audience — and, actually,
it hasn’t for a while — at least not where marketers and advertisers are concerned.
Today’s gamers are just people who like to... they like to play games!
And this demographic couldn’t be more diverse, composed of people with different hobbies
and interests, who often make purchase decisions based on an equally varied set of incentives.
Now, considering the fact that roughly 2 out of every 3 Americans play video games on a
regular basis, this also corresponds to how diverse the American population is.
And with 65% of Americans playing video games, the increasing popularity of live streaming
platforms like Twitch comes as no surprise.
In fact, Twitch reports over 15 Million daily active users who tune in to watch video streams.
That’s more than 15 Million people who go on Twitch to watch their favorite streamers
play games (or do something else) and listen to their commentary or interact with them
through chat...
And the viewers really get into it.
2019’s most-watched video stream on Twitch actually saw 1.7 Million users tune in to view Fortnite’s
“The End” event, where, contrary to the typical action-packed video game, absolutely
nothing happened!
Video streamers all around the world went online to watch a black hole swirl around…
and around… and around...
Of course, this isn’t your typical video stream on Twitch; it just goes to show how
addictive video streaming content can be for gamers and gaming fans... which speaks to
really great opportunities for brands and marketers.
We saw this when a popular streamer, Mike “Shroud” Grzesiek, just casually mentioned
to his viewers that he was thinking about buying a Cougar brand gaming case during a
stream on Twitch… and within a matter of seconds, the sudden flood of web traffic caused
the Cougar site to crash.
This is just One example of how brand mentions and recommendations that come from gaming
influencers, especially during live streams, can be a really powerful form of marketing.
And this is a really good way for brands and marketers to work around the very difficult task
of trying to define and analyze the gamer demographic: by working with people who are
already part of that demographic — who gaming audiences trust.
So, this means monitoring video streaming platforms that are popular with gamers, like
Twitch and YouTube, and identifying the gamers who would be a good match for your brand to
work with.
And the key to finding the most compatible gaming influencers is to look for the ones
who are already familiar with your brand — and who genuinely like it.
You just need to monitor references to your brand on those live stream gaming platforms,
which you can do with a media monitoring tool like Brand24, and
you’d be surprised at the topics of conversation that can come up in a video stream;
gamers talk about everything while they play: from snacks and energy drinks to their favorite
brand of razors, so you don’t even need to have, like, a gaming-related product to drive
sales through gaming influencers.
Of course, for the more analytically-minded, there’s also lots of value in buckling down
and trying to analyze the gamer demographic, including all the niches, the super niches
and gaming subcultures... and attempting to identify where they intersect and how they
interact — beyond their mutual love of gaming.
And unless you’re actively working with someone who’s already part of the gamer
demographic and who knows it well, this is research that you have to do to avoid falling
into the trap of cultural stereotypes.
OK, thanks a lot for watching guys!
If you have any questions or thoughts on gamers and how to work with them as brands, just
let me know in the Comments section below!
And if you found this video helpful or interesting, feel free to Like, Share or Subscribe to our
YouTube channel, where you’ll find even more videos like this.
OK, thanks again for watching… and, as always, I hope you learned something new!
I’ll see you next time, bye!