Video games are increasingly serving as social platforms for younger consumers, creating new opportunities for television networks, streaming services and movie studios to promote their programming and entertainment franchises, according to a new report released by Hub Entertainment Research this week.
In the latest installment of its annual “Gaming 360” report, Hub said younger gamers frequently use video games as a way to communicate with friends, develop social relationships and interact with brands through experiences incorporated into gameplay.
Among younger gamers, 57 percent said most or all communication with their gaming friends takes place inside a game, while 82 percent said they use in-game chat to discuss subjects unrelated to gameplay. Forty-three percent reported having at least one gaming friend they have never met in person, and 40 percent of weekly gamers initially connected with someone through a game before developing a friendship.
Hub said those social interactions are providing entertainment companies with opportunities to reach consumers through branded experiences and partnerships involving existing television, movie and gaming franchises. Free-to-play games, which offers little friction for younger viewers to download and play, are particularly important to those efforts, Hub said.
Eighty-eight percent of gamers surveyed said they play free-to-play titles, while 48 percent of those players reported purchasing downloadable content within those games. The research also found that 65 percent of respondents consider branded playable advertisements more relevant than conventional advertising, while 69 percent said branded playable content makes games more enjoyable.
Platforms such as “Fortnite” and “Roblox” have become destinations for branded experiences that allow consumers to interact with entertainment properties without leaving the gaming environment.
Hub also examined the relationship between streaming subscriptions and interest in major video game releases, including the upcoming “Grand Theft Auto VI.” Among gamers who subscribe to Netflix, 36 percent said they had already preordered or definitely intended to purchase the game, compared with 16 percent of gamers who do not subscribe to Netflix. The streaming platform was one of the marketing vehicles Rockstar, the developer of Grand Theft Auto, used to promote the game, dropping a 30-minute trailer with footage from the PlayStation 5 version of the game that effectively served as a commercial around the time that Rockstar opened pre-orders for the game. The game will be released in mid-November.
Hub pointed to promotional activity involving streaming platforms and video game publishers as another way entertainment companies can reach audiences across different media.
“For young gamers, the game isn’t a break from their social life — it is their social life,” Jason Platt Zolov, Senior Consultant at Hub and author of the study, said in a statement.
Zolov said entertainment companies can benefit from treating television programs, movies and games as connected parts of a franchise rather than separate products competing for consumers’ attention.
The findings are based on an August survey of more than 2,550 consumers in the United States between the ages of 16 and 74. To read the full report form Hub Entertainment Research, click or tap here.
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