Welcome to the Hyper-Growth of Sponsored Gaming
1 in 3 people in the world play video games and now big brands want a slice of the attention
The Gaming industry exploded in the past decade past all expectations. According to the World Economic Forum, there were ~100 million gamers worldwide in 1995 and today there are ~2.6 billion gamers. This incredible growth has caught the attention of brands, especially since the biggest difference between today’s gamers and the gamers of over 2 decades ago? Their willingness to spend and be influenced by other gamers. While some have tried their hand at getting involved, we are entering a new era where mass-media brands are trying to capitalize on this vertical for the first time.
Why now?
The idea of brands partnering with gamers and the gaming industry is still pretty young. MLG or Major League Gaming was founded in 2002 and houses some of the biggest tournaments in the world. In 2007, Dr.Pepper was one of the first brands to get involved in the space by sponsoring “Str8 Rippin”, one of the most well known teams in MLG history. Until then, many brands stayed out of the traditional gaming space and opted for mediums that they understood better.
Back in 2010, talk of brand integrations with video games was limited to product placement and advertisements on mobile games like Farmville. So how has it changed? The ways in which brands are trying to enter the gaming space have completely transformed. With some professional gamers making their way into more traditional forms of entertainment, many are just now realizing the power of gaming influencers as the gateway to conversion in the space.
In 2013, we started to see brands getting creative with their gaming partnerships. Most notably, NaDeShot was sponsored by RedBull and was crowned the first ESports player to receive his very own RedBull can.
Why did the brands have a change of heart?
Much of the recent attention paid to the space is due to platform likes Twitch that have cultivated audiences that are more open to brand sponsored content. According to MediaKix, 80% of users are open to brands sponsoring games and teams and 82% agree that sponsorships are good for the gaming industry. Considering brands historic frustration with understanding ROI from influencer campaigns, the gaming vertical presents a ripe opportunity for companies to clearly see results from the money they invest.
We found through our own analysis that engagement tends to be higher in this vertical as well. All gaming channels currently tracked by Studio71 (whether in network or not), compared to all non-gaming channels we track (whether in network or not), have 31% higher average 30 day comments and 62% higher average 30 day view duration.
There have been two main reservations brands have had with working in the gaming vertical: a misunderstanding of the space and a lack of clarity around the brand safety of the content. As VentureBeat wrote in 2018, “The fragmentation that defines the professional esports landscape makes it intimidating for brands to feel confident about their capability to come in and tell their story in a cohesive way.” Because of this segmentation between different games (League of Legends vs. Overwatch vs. Fornite vs. any other game) and their respective audiences, brands have been waiting for an end-to-end solution that helps connect them with a variety of different influencers across communities.
While there have been general proposed solutions presented in the past for influencer marketing at scale, very few have been able to succeed in the space. Studio71’s Chief Product Officer and President of Gaming, Javon Frazier believes that “scalable gaming content is key. We’ve been able to grow and diversify the Studio71 gaming network by providing creators the strategy and tools to expand their audiences, and by also bringing opportunities to monetize their content on multiple platforms.”
And Studio71 has been able to see results. With over 150 gaming channels in network, we found through tracking both in and out of network gaming channels that our channels consistently outranked in engagement with 320% higher average 30 day shares, 250% higher average 30 day likes and 36% higher average 30 day views.
While gamers are seeing more and more opportunities to grow and connect with their fans, brands are wanting a piece of that engaged attention.
Frazier continued that “It’s a very exciting time to be in the gaming space. The business is evolving every single day with new platforms, new gaming content, and new faces that are challenging how games have been played traditionally. We are constantly working with creators across media, sales, consumer products and licensing to build multiple ways for them to grow their communities.”
