Facebook shared its recent insights regarding the growth of
gaming in the past year, followed by Twitter that revealed that more than 2
billion Tweets last year were about gaming. YouTube also shared its data,
revealing that five of its top ten channels of 2020 were gaming-related. The
data from these social media companies is not surprising as due to the lockdowns
in 2020, a lot of people turned to gaming as a form of entertainment and
connection.
Twitter reported that there was a 75% jump in gaming-related
discussion from 2019. Moreover, specific gaming related topics such as eSports
and certain gaming titles received attention in particular.
Gaming events also saw a rise within the gaming culture as they provided a significant opportunity for connection during the Covid pandemic for millions of people around the globe who tuned in to watch these events.
Japan is Twitter’s second biggest user market and led the
way in gaming discussion, followed by USA, South Korea, Brazil and other countries.
These statistics indicate the importance of gaming culture
in the virtual world and its ability to be a source of forming communities of
like-minded people who share the same passion. This further suggests that
gaming culture can be a meaningful source of connection and marketers must
focus on it. Rising opportunities for in-game marketing could present new
avenues for branding to link into this growing segment.
