Stats Reveal YouTube Video Game Content’s Staggering Impact on Teens
By Movieguide® Contributor
YouTube has emerged as the clear choice for video game companies to advertise, as startling statistics reveal how much teens use the platform for gaming content.
Video games are the most popular source of entertainment among teenagers. A recent study found that almost half of all teens play video games for four or more hours a day. Sometimes, however, teens would rather watch others play video games than game themselves.
The Verge reported that in 2020, YouTube users watched over 100 billion hours of gaming content, and the platform “has more than 40 million active gaming channels.”
Variety reports that 74 percent of teens regularly watch videos of other people playing video games. Among a variety of options, YouTube is the most popular source for this type of content.
Because of its dominant market share in gaming content, many video game companies have turned to the website for their marketing campaigns, a choice that has made a marked impact. When asked where they can remember most recently seeing an ad for a video game, teens most commonly responded YouTube.
However, advertising on YouTube does not stop with traditional banner ads, side ads and pre-video ads. Most YouTubers are willing to make sponsored content promoting a company’s product, selling it in a way that’s geared directly to their audience.
With some of the top YouTubers holding over 20 million subscribers and garnering tens of millions of views on each video, companies are willing to pay top dollar for the allure of that many eyes seeing their product.
With the popularity of gaming only growing, it seems likely that YouTube’s dominance in this field will continue to rise in value as companies seek to connect with as large an audience as possible.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Despite its popularity, gaming is often still viewed as a fringe interest rather than a robust, global industry. However, a look into the industry reveals just how popular video games are in the world of entertainment.
In 2020, the gaming industry grossed $180 billion in revenues. That was more than the global movie industry from the previous year ($100 billion) and all North American sports ($75 billion) combined. The high industry numbers continued in 2021 and 2022 with gaming grossing $192.3 billion and $184.4 billion respectively. Roughly half of 2022’s revenue came from mobile gaming, while PC and console games brought in the rest.
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