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From Atari to Nintendo 64 to Xbox Series X, the gaming industry has spent the better part of 50 years evolving and innovating to reach new fans.
In recent years, platforms led by Twitch introduced a way for game players to grow their community and for brands to reach new and very lucrative customers by livestreaming their gameplay.
Of the $21 billion influencer marketing industry, gaming is the second most popular vertical, according to Influencer Marketing Hub, making up 12.9% of the market, trailing only fashion and beauty with 25%.
“Working in the gaming space is very broad,” said Reza Izad, co-founder and co-CEO of talent management company Underscore Talent. “You have family creators like young people doing Minecraft and Roblox content for younger demos, people doing first-person shooters and more professional esports guys,” Izad continued. Twitch, which has an enviable 31 million daily visitors and brought an estimated $2.8 billion in revenue to parent company Amazon in 2022, is far and away the leading platform of choice, said Izad.
A winning strategy
Gaming publishers are increasingly finding ways to work with influencers toward mutually beneficial outcomes in the $400 billion (and growing) industry.
For the most popular gaming influencers, their first step is getting the attention of game publishers like EA, Activision Blizzard and Take-Two Interactive. That happens through live tournaments and competitions. The publishers are watching the competitors as much as they are the audience to see how fans react to players.
“You go to the tournaments, you see who’s winning, and that’s who you’re trying to sign. It’s no different than trying to sign an athlete in the NBA,” said Izad.
Once a publisher has a marketing concept together, it has to figure out which type of creator makes the most sense: a casual gamer or a professional from a league like League of Legends or Overwatch.
“I think with a pro you get a slightly different product than you do with a casual lifestyle gamer,” said Izad. “Most marketers tend to be looking to reach a hard-to-reach audience. I don’t know if they care so much about performance as much as they care about reaching a demographic that’s critical for them to be engaged with their brand,” he continued.