The video game industry has taken off in the last decade in Canada. Just to get a picture of how massive the gaming market is, gaming revenues are higher than revenues from Hollywood and American sports combined.
Guest author Kevin Cochran looks at the marketing secrets that have been deployed by gambling operators to boost their revenues and reach. To find out more about Kevin Cochran.
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Experts and market watchers believe that the Canadian gaming industry’s potential will continue to grow at a massive pace. Stats suggest that the gaming market will grow to $180 billion by the time 2021 ends.
Because of the gaming market’s history as a niche industry in the past, many of the traditional marketing tactics and strategies have failed to work with video games. Today, with the intense competitiveness of the market, there is even stronger pressure among marketers to crack the industry.
In this article, we take a look at four of the biggest trends in the video gaming industry, and how marketing professionals can utilize this information today.
1. Mobile Usage Is Key Driver of the Gaming Industry
While no one factor led to the Canadian video game market’s boom, most experts acknowledge that the development of better mobile technology played a key role. In decades past, gamers often had to purchase a separate gaming console to play games. People today no longer have to make this substantial commitment.
Because smartphones and tablets today are cheap and powerful, more people have access to video games today. Currently, 51% of the world’s gaming revenue is derived from mobile games. This indicates a large captive audience for video game marketers.
This is very evident when you look at the Canadian gaming market as players enjoy gaming while on the move. Canadian-friendly online casinos offer a mobile gaming experience that is compatible with Apple and Android devices. Players from Canada can check out this link if they are looking for free slots.
2. Prioritize Video Content
Gaming influencers are undoubtedly a major force in the gaming industry today. Gaming videos influence more customers, and regularly get more achievement from viewers.
While influencers such as Markiplier, iHasCupquake, and SSSniper Wolf have strong presences in social networks like Instagram and Twitter, their most engaging content is often reserved for the streaming platforms Twitch, and to a lesser extent, YouTube.
Watching other people gaming online is an essential part of the modern gaming experience. Whether that person is a better player than you, or just someone you enjoy watching as an individual, more and more gamers are spending more time watching Twitch or YouTube than actually gaming for themselves.
Committing to video content is an important step all video gaming marketers must be ready to make.
The same shift can also be observed in tactics for marketing in gambling industry circles. Gambling marketing strategy is now dominated by streamers, as watching an influencer make a winning spin is always more engaging than reading about it on a social media post.
3. Be More Inclusive
Marketers are trained to focus on small niches. However, marketing in gaming industry circles requires a more holistic, inclusive approach. One of the changes that led to the explosion of video games is the expansion of its demographic.
In the past, gaming was most associated with young, straight, males. Nowadays, there is a more diverse mix of gamers, which means marketers must be more inclusive to avoid offending specific demographics. Current strategies for digital marketing in gaming industry must meet the needs of a wide swathe of gamers.
One example is Fortnite’s initiative in creating a more diverse, realistic world in their game. With minorities and women who don’t look like centrefolds an important part of their character roster, all sorts of gamers are drawn into Fortnite, eager to play as someone who looks similar to them.
4. Keep an Eye on Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is a recent technology that has only recently begun to pay off for its biggest investors.
When news broke of Amazon’s $970 million purchase of Twitch in 2014, many observers praised the initiative of Amazon but questioned whether they overpaid. The sale was controversial back then, but today, it makes perfect sense.
Amazon launched their own cloud service through Amazon Web Services soon after the purchase. Other digital mavens soon followed suites, such as Microsoft and Google.
Cloud computing technology is essential for video streaming services. Because streaming is conducted live, hours of footage that could be repurposed for social media posts or YouTube videos could be lost without cloud storage.
It is not uncommon even for low-level influencers and streamers to require substantial cloud storage space to manage and preserve their content archives – expect cloud computing to make even more waves as video streaming evolves.
Conclusion:
Gaming operators in Canada will continue to innovate with their marketing campaigns to stay ahead of the competition in the coming years. Be prepared for some innovative marketing tactics in the coming months.
| Author Bio: Rachael is a content writer at Pearl Lemon Leads, who has written on a Ultimate Resume Guide, from colored diamonds to SEO software. In her spare time, she enjoys singing, sketching, cooking, and video games. |