The Drum Show: the expanding demographics of gaming audiences
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How should marketers approach gamers - when the demographic spans 3.2 billion people?
Gaming is the most lucrative entertainment medium in the world. Small wonder, given that 3.2 billion people worldwide are gamers. Whether they play on consoles, home computers, phones, or a combination of all of them, the gaming audience is too broad to be considered a single demographic.
Gamers are as varied as any group aligned around an interest - and within that broad description there are countless ways to slice the audience for marketing purposes. We’re creeping closer to gender parity, with women making up the lion’s share of new gamers. It isn’t the preserve of young people any more, either: the medium has been around for decades, and the people that grew up with home consoles are now running brands and agencies.
As we learned in our gaming deep dive, brands are clamouring to reach those lucrative demographics. Advances in tech allow for programmatic buying of ad spaces within virtual worlds. Unreal Engine 5 - a game engine - is now powering some of the most effective ads across all visual media. And the maturity of the space is allowing for more sponsorships and partnerships than ever before.
In this week’s episode of The Drum Show, senior tech reporter Chris Sutcliffe is joined by MJ Widomska, creative director of Yrs Truly, and Charlotte Cook, MD of Calm Consultancy. The panel takes us through some of the most exciting developments in gaming, from the next big opportunities for developers and gamers, to how brands can reach out and authentically interact with gaming audiences.
When it comes to the intersection of gaming and marketing, not even the sky's the limit. As the discussion demonstrates, not only is there a huge opportunity for brands to be a part of gaming in the future - the most successful brands are already there.