Game of Phones: Why brands should take note to the new breed of mobile gamers
Advertising in gaming is ramping up quickly and companies that get it right are set to reap handsome rewards in the future, says InMobi ANZ vice president and general manager, Richard O’Sullivan.
Back in the early 2000’s, the typical mobile gamer was young, male and their gateway into mobile gaming was likely to be Nokia’s Snake (there’s a great interview with the games developer Taneli Armanto for those who remember it). Snake was the first popular mobile game and from an almost zero mobile gaming market, kick started a huge industry.
Fast forward to today and it’s an industry that now generates over US$77.2 billion in revenue from over 2.5 billion mobile gamers worldwide who play anything from casual match-three puzzles like Candy Crush Saga through to intense 3D battle Royales like Fortnite. And with the COVID-19 pandemic keeping more people at home, the number of Australian’s downloading, playing, and spending on mobile games is increasing by the minute.
Our research tells us that while 23% of all gamers started playing for the first-time during lockdown last year, the growth has been sustained over the full year with 29% growth in unique users and 41% growth in usage into 2021. Moreover, behaviours around gaming are changing as there are now several peaks throughout the day, including an 11am mid-morning break and then a sustained high between 2pm and 8pm.
