With the development of technology, gaming has become highly popular in recent years. The media and marketers have seen the potential in gaming and want to know how to use it to engage with their target customers. In this post, we bring out the most important aspects of gaming.
Players
Everything starts and ends with the players. Every game is designed to suit the player’s wants and needs and offer them a convenient experience. Southeast Asia is one of the critical gaming markets globally, with about 86% of the internet users playing mobile games.
According to researchers, mobile devices are most famous for gaming. This can be justified because smartphones are readily available, with newer versions that support online gaming with their advanced features. Online websites such as Comeon live casino have high-quality graphics and sounds, which enhance the online gaming experience.
The research conducted in January 2020 reveals that 69.1% play online games at least 2 hours per week. However, many common misperceptions about gaming are proven to be wrong. While many think that games are adored by the mostly young male demographic, the research shows that this isn’t true. Users over 36 do enjoy their favorite games, but the only difference is that they spend less time. Another surprising fact is that the male-to-female gamer ratio is 50-50 in Southeast Asia.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought changes to the gaming world. Due to the lockdowns, people started looking for entertainment online and spending more hours on gaming. The number of daily active users online has risen by 17% between January and May 2020.
Hardware
Hardware is an important aspect, which has changed through the years. Even though users needed to have Nintendo or Sony to play their favorite games, now they can access any online game from their mobile device.
Although mobile gaming is the most popular form, users also tend to enjoy PC gaming and console gaming. In 2020, cloud gaming gained massive popularity due to the convenience. The cloud gaming services Microsoft and Google process the gaming on their servers instead of the user’s device. As similar to the popular Netflix streaming, users can access their favorite game on any device.
It is important to note that Android and iPhone use varies between different markets. However, Android is most commonly used across all marketing devices such as Huawei, Samsung, Xiaomi, and others.
Software
Gaming publishers and developers are responsible for submitting new games on the market. While a developer can be a single person, gaming publishers are usually more prominent companies with many employees under their belt. Games make a profit by both digital and physical sales. According to statistics, the gaming market made a whooping profit of $159.3 billion.
However, not all games make a profit exclusively through selling. Free games are very attractive for the players, so they are highly requested on the market. These types of games profit by gaining a huge audience and selling ads or in-app purchases. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in more ad impressions and an increased number of in-app purchases, resulting in increased revenue.
Marketing opportunities
Knowing about the massive influence of gaming, marketers have a wide range of tools available to engage with their target audience. Banners and video ads get lots of exposure, with different formats available to keep the user’s attention. Brands can also sponsor a popular game and gain exposure through other channels. Another available option is content marketing, which is considered to be more complex to implement.