Almost half of all UK internet users are now playing online games

Speaking to The Drum, Oscar Diele, vice president of global brands at Spil Games, explained that gaming manages to straddle all ages and genders because each audience is engaged by a different type of game with young girls enjoying “creative games, where you make and share stuff”, young boys leaning towards “games where they can push boundaries such as sports and racing with an element of competition”, and adults favouring “distracting games that give them a mental break”.

According to the research online gamers are more engaged than any other audience spending around 30 minutes on the Spil Games site playing games per visit, almost double the amount of time spent on YouTube per visit (14.5 minutes) and almost three times as long as Facebook and Tumblr, with 12.7 and 10.6 minutes respectively.

Social sharing is also a factor in the growing popularity of online games with players "keen to connect with friends and create a more social experience". In relation to Spil Games itself Diele explained that since investing in social two years ago the platform has noticed a "growth in player engagement".

Diele added that compared with other online platforms ads in games have a “higher CTR as the audience is more interactive” and it’s easier to “target ad spots around relevant games”.