Brands are looking to connect with a young, attentive audience. We started Thece to help brands tap into one of the fastest growing audiences for the Gen Z demographic – the game viewing audience (GVA).
The GVA is comprised of Gen Z users that includes the hardcore, mid-core, and casual gamers. This ranges from professional gamers who watch each other play in tournaments to the person who occasionally games and watches livestream gamers to figure out how to level up their skills.
Understanding the game viewing audience is the key to understanding how brands can spend ad dollars that actually result in better brand awareness and conversion. We recently ran a study in partnership with YouGov to better understand the Thece game viewing audience.
Mid-core and casual gamers make up the majority of the game viewing audience
One of the misunderstandings we hear all the time is that people who spend hours watching esports and gaming online are only hardcore gamers, and therefore not the ideal advertising target. The YouGov study proves that this idea is wrong. Over 51% of game viewers surveyed describe themselves as either casual or mid-core gamers.
Not only this, but of the casual and mid-core group, 2 out of 5 respondents were female. While the hardcore gamers skewed strongly male, the casual and mid-core gamers were more gender diverse. This undermines the other assumption that only men watch livestreams of esports and gaming. With the majority of game viewers falling in the 18-23 year old range, this shows a young, diverse demographic who watch esports and gaming.
Ethnicity/Race
The Thece game viewing audience beats out the general population demographics regarding race/ethnicity diversity with a 56/44 ratio.
The largest concentration of survey respondents are in the 18-23 year old range, the Gen Z sweet spot for many advertisers.
The majority of the game viewing audience still interacts with gaming and esports via a desktop or laptop and most of the audience have multiple devices in their home.
Thece’s Livestream Media Network delivers the game viewing audience to brands
If the primary challenge facing brands is finding a young, attentive and growing audience for large scale ad buys, a close secondary challenge is having a way to deliver ads to that audience. YouGov ran their study on the game viewing audience that was delivered through our Livestream Media Network. Our network consists of esports organizations and gaming teams playing in a wide range of gaming genres.
Brands can work through our Livestream Media Network to cater ads to subsets of the larger game viewing audience. The YouGov study shows that there are already diffuse and varying demographics that make up the larger audience. And Thece can connect brands with that audience in non-disruptive ad format that garners 100% viewability for long periods of time.
Brands need to pay attention to the game viewing audience
As esports and gaming grows, the potential for a widening game viewing audience grows with it. To learn more about how Thece can help get your brand in front of the Gen Z audience, visit our Livestream Media Network page.