This report provides deep insight into the advertising in gaming industry in the US. Understand where and how gamers want to see in-game ads and ads about gaming and ground your advertising strategy in raw data with expert analysis today.
Below, we summarise the key topics covered and offer prominent insights from the report itself.
Key Topics Covered
- Digital advertising trends impacting the video game industry.
- Advertising strategies and opportunities to engage players in the video gaming space.
- Player exposure and reactions towards advertising they see in and around gaming.
- Players’ gaming advertising recall by industry, and what they want more and less of.
- Common associations players make about the ads they’re served in-game.
- Player preferences and attitudes towards advertising and brand sponsorships in the gaming space.
Advertising in Gaming: Industry Overview
Video games are set to receive more ad investment, with the in-game advertising market on track to notch an 11% CAGR from 2022-2030. This growth outpaces overall projections for digital advertising growth over a similar period. While promising for the advertising in gaming industry, ad-blockers, ad-free streaming services, and new online privacy policies mean marketers must look to other avenues.
Advertising in Gaming Consumer: Quickfire Statistics
This report gathers real consumer data, sourced with Mintel. Below we provide some of the statistics this report offers.
- Almost three-quarters of gamers recall seeing some form of in-game advertising in the past three months. While 24% don’t remember seeing ads or sponsored content from the travel industry, they would like to, indicating promise for targeting here.
- Most gamers agree some games are designed to deliver ads. Low-quality monetisation-focused strategies may cause negative perceptions, whereas partnering with quality games that gamers want to play may encourage a reversal of this.
- Older gamers (55+) see ads as distracting overall. Younger gamers are more positive, and honing down further, males aged 18-34 moreso. Targeting around demographics by working closely in gaming/advertising partnerships to understand player bases could yield more relevant/desired results, and therefore engagement.
- As found in Mintel’s US eSports Market Report, males aged 18-34 remain a key demographic. Importantly though, women in gaming should – based on the data that women game almost as much as men – be strongly considered going forward. Energy drinks market research also shows promise for partnerships in that category, with a surge in gamer energy drinks hitting the market.
Drive your insight strategy today with this consumer-focused report. Looking for something else? Try our gaming market research or marketing and advertising research.
Brands Discussed
With partnerships like Mountain Dew and Call of Duty cemented in consumers’ minds, this market report analyzes opportunities based on real-world examples. Innovation and marketing/advertising strategies delivered successfully, such as Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros Movie, shed light on where brands can drive their efforts to deliver similarly successful campaigns.
Additional Features Included in Your Report
Different Digital Formats: PDF for conveniently sharing with your team, PowerPoint for quickly including in your presentation, as well as an Excel Databook.
Mintel’s Clients Portal: Our portal offers instant access to actionable analysis and trends pieces relevant to your industry that are published almost daily. You can also browse for more market research reports.
Expert Analysis
Leading gaming analyst and expert Brian Benway takes a first-person view into the US advertising in gaming industry with deep analysis in this report.
Advertising in gaming is an effective way to reach a wide audience, and young adult gamers are willing to play along, if it’s a fair and respectable exchange.
Brian Benway
Research Analyst, Gaming and Entertainment
Collapse All
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- Key issues covered in this Report
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Executive Summary
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Consumer Insights
- Consumer fast facts
- Gaming ad exposure
- Graph 1: gaming ad exposure – in-game ads, 2023
- Graph 2: gaming ad exposure – gaming media ads, 2023
- Graph 3: gaming ad exposure – NETs, by gender and age, 2023
- Graph 4: gaming ad exposure, by gaming devices used, 2023
- In-game ad recall by industry
- Graph 5: in-game ad recall, by industry, 2023
- Graph 6: in-game ad recall – select industries – advertisements or sponsored content, by gamer segment, 2023
- Graph 7: industry in-game ad recall – no recall/no desire, by age and gender, 2023
- Gaming ad reactions
- Graph 8: gaming ad reactions in the past three months – positive reactions, 2023 vs 2021
- Graph 9: gaming ad reactions in the past three months – negative reactions, 2023 vs 2021
- Graph 10: gaming ad reactions in the past three months – positive reactions, by household income, 2023
- Graph 11: gaming ad reactions in the past three months – negative, by gender and age, 2023
- In-game advertising associations
- Graph 12: in-game advertising associations, 2023
- Graph 13: in-game advertising associations – positive and negative NETs, by gender and age, 2023
- Graph 14: in-game advertising associations – positive and negative NETs, by device and frequency gamer segments, 2023
- Graph 15: in-game advertising associations, by device and frequency gamer segments, 2023
- Advertising preferences
- Graph 16: advertising preferences, 2023
- Graph 17: advertising preferences, by generation, 2023
- Graph 18: advertising preferences, by parental status by gender, 2023
- Attitudes toward mobile games and advertising
- Graph 19: attitudes towards mobile games and advertising – any agree, by device and frequency gamer segments, 2023
- Graph 20: attitudes towards mobile games and advertising, by parental status by gender, 2023
- Attitudes toward kids and advertising
- Graph 21: attitudes towards kids and advertising, by parental status and gender, 2023
- Graph 22: parents’ attitudes towards kids and advertising, by area, 2023
- Attitudes toward new advertising opportunities
- Graph 23: new ad opportunities, by gender and age, 2023
- Graph 24: new ad opportunities, by parental status by gender, 2023
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Competitive Strategies
- Launch activity and innovation
- Marketing and advertising
- Opportunities
- Graph 25: games you have watched other people play in last 30 days, 2022 vs 2023
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The Market
- Market context
- Market overview
- Graph 26: global video game industry revenue, 2019-25
- Graph 27: global video game industry revenue share, by device, 2023
- Graph 28: Consumer Price Index change from previous period, 2020-23
- Market drivers
- Gaming industry digital advertising spend and trends
- Graph 29: top gaming brands by adverting spend, 2023
- Graph 30: video game industry advertising spend, by quarter, 2021-23
- Graph 31: monthly video game advertising spend, Jan-Jul 2023
- Graph 32: monthly video game advertising spend, by publishers, 2023
- Graph 33: Top 2023 video game advertising publishers
- Graph 34: Nintendo advertising spend, by publisher, 2023
- Graph 35: Xbox advertising spend, by publisher, 2023
- Graph 36: Sony advertising spend, by publisher, 2023
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Appendix
- The consumer
- Graph 37: device usage, 2023
- Graph 38: gaming frequency, 2023
- Graph 39: gamer segments, 2023
- Graph 40: Primary Achievers demographics, 2023
- Graph 41: Primary Explorers demographics, 2023
- Graph 42: Primary Socializers demographics, 2023
- Graph 43: Primary Competitors demographics, 2023
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