In terms of cultural relevance, gaming is highly on-trend today. In today’s mobile-savvy generation, the odds that someone has never downloaded a gaming app even once are extremely rare. From educational and puzzle games to action and simulation games, the broad spectrum of the gaming industry casts a wide enough net to attract all demographics of users.
And just like everything else currently on-trend, the gaming industry is hugely influenced by content creators, streamers, and influencers who hold much power regarding user decisions. While we’ve previously spoken about the benefits of collaborating with influencers to grow your game’s reach, engagement, and user base, now we’ll dig into how they have a crucial impact on your brand’s revenue. Read on!
Understanding The Gaming Influencer Market
93% of the top game publishers’ YouTube views are generated by influencer content
Gamers stream their gameplay for hours, create YouTube videos to be viewed on demand, and then repackage this content as YouTube highlights or Shorts, available to be consumed in perpetuity. Gaming is one of the few industries that has seen a massive increase in online content views, primarily through COVID-19. While gaming is traditionally an active entertainment source, the amount of passive content consumed online is staggering. And unlike other industries where online content is generated from multiple sources, almost all gaming content on YouTube is from influencers and creators. This has a direct impact on the revenue of the games they stream.
Why the “amount” of influencer marketing affects revenue results
The more influencer content available, the more the games make! Online gaming content has made it impossible for marketers not to see a direct correlation between gaming influencer content and the revenue generated. As a result, brands with lower view counts but more influencer content have much higher revenue. Lesser-viewed influencer content generates more revenue than higher-viewed non-influencer content.
How gaming influencer strategies apply to all industries
There is a case to be made that you can extend influencer marketing strategies for gaming brands to non-gaming ones. This is partially attributed to the growth of gaming creators, who can impact the revenues of non-gaming brands through their massive followings.
Why Gaming Influencer Marketing Is All the Rage
Global revenue growth
Of all the different ways people game, mobile gaming is the most popular. And mobile gaming content gets millions of views online. This, combined with the increase in global smartphone penetration, indicates that the gaming influencer market is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon! Gaming is no longer a frivolous children’s activity or downtime hobby. The mainstream popularity of the industry can be seen in the following that popular gamers have. According to Business Wire, the mobile gaming industry is set to witness a compound annual growth rate of 12.5% from 2022 to 2027.
Two out of three Americans play on at least one device
In a world where brands have a few seconds to grab their audiences’ attention, gaming brands have so much potential to advertise their content. The volume of gamers in developed markets continues to grow daily. Particularly in the 18–35 age group, people spend upwards of 40 minutes a day gaming on average. Influencer content and in-game advertising allow you to expand your visibility and reach, ultimately boosting your bottom-line growth!
Gender ratio parity
Gaming is one of the few industries that has become almost entirely gender-agnostic. The ratio of male to female gamers in most markets is virtually the same, with male gamers outnumbering females by less than 10%. This means that there are many influencers who can connect you with varied audiences. Building long-term relationships with influencers who have the audience you’re targeting is beneficial and almost essential to increasing your revenue.
Top Platforms For Gaming Influencers
Twitch
While looking for gaming influencers, Twitch is the obvious choice. Streamers spend hours on this platform live streaming their gameplay for dedicated audiences. The platform is also popular due to its live chat feature, which makes it highly interactive between streamers and their audience. The platform also allows creators to earn through their Loyalty and Affiliate Programs, subscriptions, and sponsorships.
YouTube
YouTube Gaming started in 2015 and garnered approximately 300,000 unique visitors each month. However, this ended in 2019 when the company announced that it would discontinue YouTube Gaming. They moved all the content back to YouTube, where influencers continue to thrive. This move worked well for brands as the shift did not reduce the statistics of the content while garnering a wider audience already present on YouTube.
4 Benefits Of Partnering With Gaming Influencers
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The professionalism of content creation
Combining the marketing and analytics resources of your brand with the content of an influencer is a recipe for success. The only reason streamers and influencers have the attention of your target audience is their content. They already have the tools that get the required demographic to respond, engage, and act. This removes the additional burden brands have when figuring out how to create the necessary content. It also ensures that content is generated professionally, ticking all the required boxes.
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Tapping into new audiences
Online content creators single-handedly outperform big companies when it comes to engaging audiences. If you can collaborate with them, it’s a massive boost to the failing organic reach of social media. According to Google, almost 75% of online gamers watch YouTube videos to learn how to improve their gameplay. Content is being consumed just as much as the games are. You can attract new audiences to your brand with the right content strategy.
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Boost organic growth
Gaming is where video views translate into downloads and purchases; you must take advantage of this for your brand. While clicks and likes are great, influencer content converts users into customers, giving you an immediate revenue gain. With organic content having a much lower impact, where you put your money on social media matters.
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Win trust
According to Tubular Labs, influencers have much more loyal followers on YouTube than media companies. The loyalty of users online also depends on the content type, and gaming followers are more than 50% more loyal than consumers of other genres of content. When audiences find a gaming influencer they like, they stick with them for the long run. This gives you greater lifetime revenue per user compared to other industries.
Tips To Keep In Mind
Recognize the influencers’ expertise
Put yourself in the shoes of an influencer for one moment. Just like your brand’s reputation is on the line with every collaboration, their online reputation is also on the line. Creators and streamers are looking for partnerships that aren’t too corporate and still give their fans the x-factor they desire. Allow your collaborators to take the creative lead to best impact the target audience you wish to engage.
Select the right creators
There’s only so much a creator can do if the game you’re collaborating with them on has a different target audience. Create audience personas that you’re looking to target and ensure that they match with the audience who engages with the said creator’s content. This has to be done through qualitative and quantitative analysis (Twitch Analytics, sentiment analysis) for the best results.
Narrow down the audience
Keyword analysis is key to finding the right fit audiences for your games and chosen influencers. The influencers who fit your genre are best suited to promote your game. Browser extensions and online tools are available to help you navigate this process and find the right tags for your audience.
Gaming Influencers Are Key to Your Revenue Growth!
Influencers are the best distribution platforms to deliver your core message to the right audience in an engaging, informative, and entertaining way. The digital world is too fragmented to run digital campaigns that aren’t well thought out. With the rate of consumption in the gaming industry constantly growing, influencer content is almost a must-have for all gaming brands.
Finding gaming influencers to collaborate with can take time and effort. While many gaming influencers are available, only the right fit will get you closer to your goals. But using an influencer marketing platform like AtisfyReach makes the process much more seamless.
Our AI-powered platform enables brands to recruit influencers, scale their influencer marketing initiatives and run campaigns seamlessly.
